Night Terrors
by Forte the Dragon
Summary: The Gargoyles aren't the only thing in the night to terrify New York City anymore.
1. Prologue

Night Terrors

Prologue

Gotham City, Arkham Asylum, Night

Within the halls of the asylum, haunted by the voices of the mad, the orderlies were nervous. It was a red moon outside tonight, an event that stirred the madness in some of the patients to a fever-pitch. The staff could hear the howling laughter of "the clown" ring throughout the halls. His laughter was usually not a good sign, but at least it was a sign he was still in the building where he belonged, along with the rest of the sideshow of inmates who took to strange garb and bizarre motives.

"What the hell is he laughing at now?" One orderly asked mainly to herself.

"Man, I don't know, but it's giving me the creeps." A male orderly responded, currently drawing insulin into a syringe for use on a patient known for diabetes.

"We better check it out." A third orderly stated.

"No, other orderlies are closer to him right now. We need three people to inject insulin into this one." The female orderly replied.

Meanwhile, deeper into the madhouse, six other orderlies were approaching the padded cell of their resident laughing boy, known only as The Joker. His laughter was loud and shrill, which was at least a sign he was close by, as one of the men looked into the dark cell. It went quiet and it was dark inside the cell, which didn't bode well. Then suddenly a thump against the door and the twisted grin of Joker showed through the viewing port, laughing heard.

"JESUS!" swore the orderly who backed away from the door.

"Ahahahahahaha! Jumpy tonight, aren't we?" Joker taunted, "Scared stiff! ….Ahahahahahahaha!"

"You're going to be a stiff if I could get just five minutes with you and my club here, you freak!" the man retorted, angry at the inmate.

"I know something you don't know, I know something you don't know!" teased the self titled Clown Prince of Crime.

The orderly glared, becoming infuriated with the patient. He raised his club in anger, and another orderly put a hand on his shoulder to try to calm him.

"You know that's what he wants, right? Just calm down."

"I know, but I'd still like to belt him across those ugly yellow teeth of his."

The Joker only grinned at this, giggling and chortling to himself.

"You might get the chance, Rocky." He cryptically told the orderlies.

"What does THAT mean? You're not getting out of that cell, clown." The orderly responded.

"Yes, but I'm already out." A calm, quiet voice answered.

The orderlies quickly turned to face the voice to find a tall, thin, lanky man dressed in old fashioned farmer's clothes, with a witch's hat and burlap mask that was hideous, with small eye holes and visible gas mask ports on the mouth. They bore worker's leather gloves and had straw hair coming from the hat, and loose straw sticking out of the clothes.

"It's Crane!" an orderly shouted.

"Please, call me Scarecrow."

The Scarecrow then thrust his hands forward, holding a small skull shaped device in each hand, which sprayed out a noxious green gas onto the orderlies. They tried to fight the effects, but quickly succumbed, falling to the ground writhing.

"What do you fear? Being alone? Closed in spaces? Spiders? Snakes?" Crane asked the victims.

Joker only laughed, as the Scarecrow deftly lifted the keys off of one of the orderlies, and proceeded to unlock and open Joker's cell door. Joker then wiggled in his straight jacket, before quickly undoing his arms and proceeded to work off the rest of his straps through the sleeves of the restraining device.

"My part of the deal is done now clown. You distracted the guards and I freed you after freeing myself and getting my things. What you do is your decision now." Scarecrow stated matter of factly.

"Oooooh I know, Straw Head. I'm going to let loose the other patients! Dear Ol' Batty-Man will have a field day trying to put us all back in the clink!"

"Good for you. While I would LOVE to stay and watch this experiment in terror on Gotham City, and truly, I would…" Crane started to say.

"Eh? Where are you going, Hayseed?" Joker asked.

"I'd _really _be crazy to stay and let Batman catch me again, so I have plans to go give another city a lesson in fear!" Scarecrow finished.

"Oooooo, can I come? Can I?" Joker chimed in, "I make a GREAT traveling buddy!"

"No you can't-…" Scarecrow started, and then realized simply telling Joker no would mean the clown would come anyway, and Crane didn't want that. He had "serious research" to do on the psychology of fear, which is why he wanted to leave Gotham in the first place.

"If you come, you won't get to play with Batman." Crane told Joker, using Joker's own warped psychology against him.

"OOOOOOOHHH! You have a point! You drive a hard bargain, you straw stiff! Fine, I'll stay and play with Batman. But I want to see slides when you get back!" Joker laughed at his little joke.

"If this keeps Batman away from my work, you can have a Power Point presentation of the whole thing when I get back." Scarecrow jokingly promised Joker, before running off.

Joker just laughed at the joke, then scampered off with the keys from the orderly, intent on letting loose a cavalcade of Gotham's worst out onto the city, even as Crane was heading to find a vehicle to take, to head towards a major metropolitan city to ply his trade. Metropolis would be a mistake with Superman, while Central and Keystone City had the Flash. Coast City was just a crater now, and Star City had its own defender, the Green Arrow. That left one excellent choice in Crane's mind…

[Story Divide]

New York City, Xanatos Tower, Nightfall

Night was falling over Xanatos Tower, the sun setting over the Celtic castle that rests on top of the building, darkness falling over the stone statues on the parapets. With the sun down, the stone begins to crack and split on these statues, before breaking apart and exposing the Gargoyles to the fresh air, their roars of freedom pealing through the air.

"Ah, I never get tired of that." Xanatos stated, having been watching for this.

"Frankly, neither do I." Detective Elisa Maza added.

Goliath and the other gargoyles, including his daughter Angela, descended from the turrets and parapets, walking towards the two humans who were awaiting them. Elisa shifted her balance slightly as she watched them approach.

"Good evening Goliath." David Xanatos stated in his calm, direct tone.

"Good evening…" Goliath responded, "Is something wrong, Elisa?"

"Nothing more than the usual crime in the streets," Elisa replied, "Which is plenty for the force. I'm more concerned about Brooklyn."

"Yeah, last night…" Brooklyn muttered.

Last night had been a pretty normal night of protecting the city from the criminal element for the gargoyles and Elisa. Normal up until one lucky gunshot clipped Brooklyn's wing, nearly making him crash into a building before being saved by Broadway.

"Are you all right?" Elisa asked.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Brooklyn told her sternly.

"Brooklyn." Goliath said, with a serious tone to his voice.

"Yeah, yeah…I'm sorry. I just had a nightmare about it being worse than that while we slept as stone." Brooklyn replied.

"I didn't know gargoyles had dreams during the day." Xanatos noted.

"We do, as humans do when they sleep. And sometimes our sleep is troubled." Hudson said, answering Xanatos' unasked question.

"I see."

"Yeah, anyway, I still don't really want to talk about it, but my wing has healed if you were wondering." Brooklyn stated.

"Being afraid is normal, Brooklyn. We all fear something." Angela said, trying to calm him down, "It's how we cope with it that makes us brave."

"Angela is right, Brooklyn. You need to handle your fears better." Goliath added.

"I'm NOT afraid, okay?" Brooklyn shouted, and then turned to the parapets to glide off.

"Hey, come on Brooklyn, I'm afraid of something bad happening to Alex." Lexington stated, to try to help sympathize with Brooklyn.

"It's not like that though." Brooklyn answered, then leapt off the building, gliding off into the night.

"Shouldn't we go after him Goliath?" Broadway asked.

"No…he'll return before sunrise. He needs time to sort this out on his own."

"I hope that's all he needs," Elisa added to Goliath's statement, "I've seen some cops become terrified of their job after close calls."

"We better get going ourselves. The night's young, and brings out a lot of these…criminals out." Hudson noted.

"Including the Quarrymen," Angela added, "They seem as intent on destroying us as ever."

"I trust Brooklyn to be able to handle himself well against them. It's why I left him in charge when I left for Avalon." Goliath remarked.

"I hope so," Hudson stated, "Because as he is, he might be a bit too angry to do so."

"Hmm…you're right. Go after Brooklyn and make sure he doesn't get into any serious trouble."

Hudson nodded, then ran to the edge of the castle walls, leaping off to go after Brooklyn, gliding into the night.

"The rest of us will go out on patrol as normal." Goliath added.

"I'm going to follow a lead on Tony Dracon." Elisa told Goliath.

The group then split up, heading for their destinations.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Central Bus Station, Daylight

The station was alive and bustling with the flow and ebb of human traffic, coming in and going out of New York City or just across town. Many passengers were disembarking from a Greyhound bus, including a gaunt man with brown hair and blue eyes, heading towards the side of the bus where a station hand was busy unloading the bags and suitcases of the passengers for pick up. The nearly skeletal man noticed his own being unloaded less than gently, and was outraged, heading over to the dark skinned worker.

"Be careful with that, you incompetent oaf! There are fragile items in that bag!" Crane yelled at the man.

"Look buddy, I'm doing my job, now get inside and wait for your stuff like everyone else."

Crane glowered at the man, before bringing his glove covered hands up to his face and coughing a bit. For some reason, this began to unnerve the worker.

"I'm just a sick man…a _very _sick man…and I don't want my medicine damaged." Crane told the worker.

The worker squirmed a little bit, looking to the bags, then to Crane, before he began to back off slowly from them.

"Uh…a-all right…whatever you say. Just don't get close to me, man."

Crane smirked, taking his bags, then walking off into New York City, grinning to himself how he had used fear powder on his bags to give the man a strong case of pathophobia, the fear of illnesses and diseases, to scare him into complying. So what if a few others at the station would be affected by the powder as well, rubbing off onto the other baggage. Crane enjoyed the thought, even as he made his way into the city to begin his campaign of terror, and people at the station began to panic about the germs and viruses around them that they had previously given no thought to.


	2. DayDreaming

Night Terrors

Chapter 1: Day-Dreaming

New York City, Central Bus Station, Daylight

Detective Matt Bluestone had been on the day shift for sometime now, since his becoming an official member of the Illuminati. The rank came with some access to information others didn't have, but it still didn't help explain what he had been called for to investigate at the Central Station. From the sound of it, at least half the workers in the station and several travelers from Gotham City had sudden panic attacks. This was normally something intended for doctors to handle, but the large scale of the problem led to the police being called in to investigate, especially when a paramedic noticed a strange powder on the hands of the victims.

"And you say that everyone who is reporting panic attacks is explaining the same reasons why?" Bluestone questioned one of the medics.

"Yeah, it's the strangest thing. All of them are complaining or ranting about getting sick from things around them, or afraid of germs." The medic answered.

"ALL of them?"

"I know, it's weird. It's like a sudden outbreak of fear."

Bluestone tapped his pen against his notepad, in thought about this.

"Thank you for your time."

He then moved through the crowd of medics and panic-stricken victims, careful not to touch them after one was screaming that he'd be infected now. He was trying to find the manager of the station, one of the few unaffected. He found him drinking coffee and being questioned by police officers.

"What did you find out so far?" Bluestone asked one of the officers.

"We've learned that this occurred after the bus from Gotham arrived. One of the workers says there was a sickly guy who gave him the spooks." One of the officers responded, "He started panicking shortly after that. Then other workers unloaded the bags from the bus, and one noticed the powder on the bags and called medics and the police. But the bags have traded hands before anyone noticed the powder. We don't know how many are contaminated or what with."

"Great…" Bluestone muttered, "Another anthrax panic. The good news is it isn't likely it's the actual thing. So many copycats sending baby powder these days, there's more of them than the actual thing."

Matt Bluestone then decided to go check with the on-scene forensics team, currently studying the powder in a van. He made his way back through the crowd, towards the van, where the back was open and a small crowd was watching intently.

"Any news on the powder?"

"Negative. We only know what it's NOT, and it's not anthrax. But it's not baby powder either. It seems to be causing the panic though, because one of our guys handled it without his gloves, and now is afraid of germs too. We have some kind of….fear powder, apparently."

"Fear powder…" Bluestone mused, "From Gotham City? Any ideas?"

"We'll have to check with the GCPD to figure that one out."

"Right. Get on it. We need to know what this stuff is and if there's any reason to panic."

"Frankly Matt, I think it's too late for that last part."

Bluestone sighed, then rubbed his temples.

"Yeah, I know, but we still have to try to keep the rest of the city from freaking out about this."

[Story Divide]

New York City, Madison Square Garden, Daylight

A large rioting crowd had gathered here, many wearing blue uniforms and hoods with a fist wielding a hammer for a logo. Many of the crowd also wielded such hammers in person, and there was much shouting. This was the kind of thing that attracted Crane, as crowds usually meant a large enough test sample to try his new fear chemicals. While others may see this mob as a riot and angry, Crane saw that fear was what led them, and it was this fear that he wanted to exploit…

"Quarrymen! We stand terrified of the night because of the beasts, the gargoyles that hunt the night! Our children are not safe, nor are we! It is time to hunt down the beasts as they sleep as stone!" cried the leader of this gathering.

There was a cheer of agreement from the crowd. Crane mused over this odd vendetta. Surely they weren't terrified of mere stone statues, were they? In any event, this was too good an opportunity to pass up, as he quickly made his way out of the crowd and found the sanctuary under a stone bridge way to quickly change into costume.

"It is the gargoyles who inspire fear in our hearts! The beasts are our fears incarnate! It is time to fear no longer and strike back!"

It was at this moment Scarecrow chose to act.

"On the contrary," he stated, from behind the crowd, "I believe it is time for a lesson on what fear really is!"

Some of the crowd turned to face him, and stopped to study his shambling, scarecrow appearance.

"Is that supposed to scare us?" One Quarryman asked.

"Yes."

Scarecrow then threw fear dust into the man's face, and giggled in glee as the man began screaming, getting the whole crowd's attention as Scarecrow grinned.

"What the hell?"

"What IS that?"

Scarecrow's grin grew wider as he looked at the fear on their faces, those who weren't hiding under hoods anyway.

"What's wrong? Scared?" he asked inquisitively, "Better run before I do the same to ALL of you! Boo!"

This startled some of them, but the majority felt secure in their superior numbers, and ran at the gaunt Scarecrow that had come to interrupt their gathering. Scarecrow tsked at this choice, before spraying fear gas from his sleeves at the group. Shortly, they began to panic, some falling to the ground and curling up, others fleeing randomly, even as Scarecrow skipped over and around their bodies, laughing. The remaining Quarrymen stepped back to give him room as he went to the crowd leader.

"What are you, some kind of scarecrow? What do you want?"

"I want to know more about these gargoyles you fear. Surely you're not afraid of stone statues."

"No, these statues as you call them become alive by night, terrorizing the city!" The group leader exclaimed, "Many of us are witness to it!"

"I want to see these 'gargoyles' then for myself. Show me." Scarecrow told him, still smiling.

"What makes you think you can come to me giving orders?"

"Tell me, what do you fear?" Scarecrow inquired.

"Like I'd tell you."

"Oh I believe you will…"

Scarecrow then gassed the man with his fear gas, and the man began to panic. Scarecrow grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to glare at him, now angry.

"WHAT DO YOU FEAR!"

The man screamed and struggled, his fear weakening him, as he began to rant about the gargoyles, seeing them in the daylight.

"So you're genuinely afraid of them. Good…good…now I'll say it again. I want to see them."

[Story Divide]

Gotham City, the Batcave, Night

In the darkness of the catacombs beneath Wayne Manor, The Batman was currently sitting in front of the massive computer that served as the nerve-center of his war against crime. He stared at the computer screen, looking angrily at it as he reviewed the escapees of Arkham Asylum. He had been busy since the escape, both as playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne, and at night as the Dark Knight Detective. He was reviewing the known list of escaped patients of Arkham, and removing some of them from the list, these lunatics having been caught either by the police, or for the more major ones, by Batman himself. It hadn't been long since the escape, about one night, but he had been quite active. However, he still stared intently at the image of the Joker, remaining as one of the few loose on Gotham City.

"Going after the Joker tonight, sir?" asked an older man, with a mustache and graying hair.

"I should, Alfred. But I don't have any leads on him. I'll have to stay and wait for his next move."

"Must I remind you that you have a business meeting with Ms. Destine tomorrow in New York?"

Bruce looked over to Alfred, in full Batman regalia aside from his cowl. He sat up in his seat.

"Destine? …The CEO of Nightstone Unlimited? I forgot about that…I'll have to cancel it. I can't afford to be absent when Joker makes his move."

"Very well then."

Bruce then looked back to the screen, having been trying to find information on Professor Jonathan Crane's whereabouts. The Gotham City Police Department had information from the orderlies of Arkham that Crane had led the escape. What troubled Bruce was that Crane hasn't acted since then. His normal M.O. was to terrify Gotham as one of his twisted "experiments" in fear. The fact he had been silent since his escape didn't bode well. The computer then highlighted information on a file search of police files on the network. Bruce had a hunch to search for key words in the files of other major cities in case any of the inmates had left Gotham. It wouldn't be the first time they'd done so, as he recalled a time in Joker's career where he had traveled the country. Bruce pulled up the data, seeing the highlighted word, "scarecrow", in one of New York City's reports concerning a riot in Madison Square Garden. He scowled, reading deeper into the report, confirming by the mention of panicked rioters that it was Crane.

"Alfred? I think maybe I will go to that meeting. New York might be an interesting city to see the sights in…Crane's in New York. A whole new city to terrorize must have been too tempting for him to resist acting."

"Very good, sir."

[Story Divide]

New York City, 23rd Precinct, Night

Detective Elisa Maza had just arrived to start her night shift, after visiting with the Manhattan Clan at Xanatos Tower, also known as the Eyrie Building. She had another long night ahead of her, and she knew it, but that was part of the job. She met Bluestone coming out.

"Hey Matt. How was the day shift?" She asked him.

"Weird, that is all I have to say about it. Just weird, we've had mass panic attacks at Central Station and Madison Square garden. Forensics thinks it's from some kind of powder found at Central Station, and one of the Quarrymen picked up in the Garden said something about a scarecrow."

"A scarecrow?" Elisa asked, in a tone of skepticism, "In the middle of New York?"

"It was some guy dressed as a scarecrow." Bluestone added.

"You're right, that _is _weird. Well, for New York I mean." Elisa stated.

"The department's working on a lead that they might have come from Gotham City."

"_That _dump? I wouldn't be surprised if they were, that city has a bad history of crime and poverty."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm heading home. Good night, Elisa."

"Good Night Matt."

[Story Divide]

New York City, Nightstone Unlimited, Daylight

Dominique Destine, better known by her gargoyle identity Demona, sighed in frustration, tapping a pen on her desk, waiting for her meeting to begin and be over with. She didn't like dealing with humans, despite being one during the day thanks to a Fay spell, but she did realize she needed to further her goals by using them, as she planned to do with her current target, Bruce Wayne. She figured that a playboy like him, well known for his entourages of women, and alleged sexual promiscuity would help her convince him to partner their businesses on a very profitable deal. She was, after all, a woman, and he a man, and if he did not agree out of desire to court her, he would likely agree in belief that he, as a man, would be superior to her and have the upper hand. She looked up from her waiting as Bruce Wayne stepped into her large office and meeting room, and she got up to head over to shake his hand, a formality.

"Welcome to New York City, Mr. Wayne."

"Thank you, Ms…Destine, was it?"

"Call me Dominique. No need to be so formal here." Dominique said, starting to apply some false sensuality to try to ease Bruce into the deal.

"All right then."

"Let's handle business first. Then maybe we can get to know each other better."

Bruce Wayne blushed a bit, chuckling slightly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. He hadn't expected Dominique to be so beautiful, or so bold.

"Right…"

And shortly, they were busy discussing fine details of their business deal, and some time later Dominique using a Power Point slide show to show possibilities for their deal to profit.

"As you can see, we both stand to gain a lot of profit from pooling our resources on several projects. We have potential in the stock market, medical technology, military…" Dominique said, listing off options.

"No." Bruce Wayne stated sternly.

"…what?" Dominique asked, curious what Wayne meant by that, and confused by the tone of voice he was using now. It was…dark, serious.

"I won't condone military or weapon projects."

"That's one of the largest fields with the war in Iraq right now. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I will not approve of WayneTech divisions being used to develop weapons."

Dominique scowled slightly in the darkened room. That had been one of her personal interests, to supply humans with more ways to kill themselves and save her the trouble later on. But why was this man refusing to fund it? Surely he was as profit hungry as any other man…

"I'll fund joint projects with Nightstone Unlimited, but I will not fund military projects." Bruce Wayne restated his sentiment.

Dominique was intent on coaxing him into agreeing to work on military projects, but then she noticed the time on a clock. It was close to dusk. She had to hurry things up here and get Wayne out of there.

"…Very well. No military projects between our two companies." Dominique said, compromising when she would rather press the issue.

She stood up, and shook hands with Bruce Wayne.

"All right then. I'll notify Lucius Fox to arrange everything with your people." Bruce told Dominique, again using his lighter, calmer voice.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other pressing affairs to attend to tonight." Dominique replied seriously.

"I won't keep you. Good bye Dominique."

Dominique then watched as Bruce Wayne left the office. She sighed in relief, quickly heading to her hidden control room in her office, closing the way in behind her, quickly undressing herself to preserve her business suit from the changes to come. Within minutes, she was in her more accustomed attire, including her arm bands and ragged scraps of clothing. When the sun set, she groaned out in pain as she began to change into her true, gargoyle body quickly and painfully, soon standing there as Demona. But even as she began to check her computers, plotting her next insidious plan, her thoughts began to wander, leading her to wonder about Bruce Wayne. Why was he so intent against military projects? What was it when his voice darkened that made her so…alert to his presence? She tried to put these thoughts aside, despising him as a human, but yet she was still curious about the man behind Bruce Wayne…


	3. Day into Night

Night Terrors

Chapter 2: Day into Night

New York City, Rooftops, Night

The roofs of Manhattan were normally a quiet, calm place in the frenzy of the city's night life, but this was not the case tonight. The roofs were active with the work of the Quarrymen hastily installing portable anti-aircraft guns in anticipation of the gargoyles tonight, and Scarecrow was watching with a morbid curiosity, surprised they would go to such lengths against, what Crane thought, were urban legends at best. Their leader, John Castaway, was certainly a bit heavy-handed in his approach to these legends.

"Have you ever actually caught one of these gargoyles?" Crane asked one of the Quarrymen.

"They're darn difficult to do so, being as smart as people at least."

"So you've observed them then. Interesting…"

Crane mused over the prospect of a new species he could experiment with fear on. He relished the thought, believing experimenting with fear on them would surely validate his work with the other scientists. He'd be a pioneer in the field. But that was if they were actually _real, _and Crane had to admit, they were sorely lacking in irrefutable evidence of their existence. Mostly hearsay and claims from the Quarrymen, who seemed to be terrified of them. Crane couldn't confirm anything about these gargoyles from their accounts while they seemed superstitious. However, the number of claimed witnesses did lend some credence to those claims. Crane looked up from his thoughts as one of the Quarrymen shouted, firing at something on a nearby roof.

"Was it a gargoyle?" One of the Quarrymen asked.

"I'm sure it was! It had big bat wings!"

"B-bat wings?" Crane asked, hesitantly. He knew of one thing that scared him, and it was Batman.

"Feeling scared, Scarecrow?" A Quarryman taunted.

"Not of gargoyles my friend, but something a trifle more real."

Suddenly a brief yell was heard, and a Quarryman was down, Goliath standing over him, roaring in anger as he charged another Quarryman, intent on stopping this nightly habit of placing anti-aircraft guns to try to kill the gargoyles with. Crane saw Goliath in all his righteous fury, even as three Quarrymen ran at him with their technological hammers to try to strike a blow.

"You're not the Batman." Crane muttered to himself, "Time to go in either case. Now that I know what I'm looking for, it's best to work alone, rather than with goons liable to destroy my test subjects."

Goliath noticed Scarecrow, but was busy fighting the Quarrymen by himself, too much so to pursue the lanky figure, even as he struck out at the one leading this operation. Meanwhile, Scarecrow was scrambling down the fire escape of the building, spotting a car waiting below. He suspected it was for a plainclothes police officer or a detective.

"Damn it!" Scarecrow exclaimed, "I'm trapped…wait, what's this? It's empty. They must be inside the building."

Scarecrow quickly climbed down and confirmed what he had seen to be true. The keys were still in the ignition as well, but then, Crane prided himself as not being some common thief. He ignored this and quickly ran off down into the alleys, as up on the roof, Elisa Maza came out of the stairwell to see Goliath finishing off the last of the Quarrymen, knocking them all out.

"I'm going to need more handcuffs for this one." Elisa joked.

"Yes…there was one more, a man dressed as a scarecrow, but I was preoccupied." Goliath replied.

"A scarecrow, huh? That sounds about right. The precinct had a report about a Quarrymen gathering in Madison Square that a scarecrow was seen at."

"So they are working with the Quarrymen then. Not for long." Goliath stated, prepared to leap off of the building to glide around and see if he could spot the Scarecrow.

"Be careful Goliath. The reports said he terrified the Quarrymen. That's not easy to do to some of them."

"Whatever scared them won't scare me away, Elisa."

"Right."

Goliath then leapt off the side of the building, quickly gliding out to try to spot the Scarecrow, unwittingly going the wrong way to find him.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Quarrymen Rally Hall, Night

The night conceals many things, as it was doing to conceal a lone figure waiting on top of the building, with a listening device attached to the sky light, listening in on the conversations inside. There were several so far, but not many worth the effort yet. Still, he remained vigilant. He had seen the police reports that the Quarrymen had recently been in contact with what he presumed to be Scarecrow. A couple hours on the streets had led him this far. It was up to how things faired here that determined the rest.

"Are you sure it was wise to let that…scarecrow join in on the hunt tonight?"

"He showed interest. And he might be an edge against the gargoyles."

The figure's eyes narrowed. He had heard them refer to gargoyles quite a lot in his listening in. He wasn't sure what it meant, but the term scarecrow was enough proof they'd know where Crane was. He removed the listening device and put it up into his utility belt. Down below, the Quarrymen continued their discussion.

"He's a freak, like the gargoyles! I say we can't trust him anymore than we could trust one of them!"

"You might be right."

Suddenly, the crash of glass and the rush of air were heard, and descending from the ceiling was none other than Batman, in his intimidating glory. He landed deftly on the ground, kneeling, cape drawn around him, before standing up, and staring fiercely at the two Quarrymen he heard talking. He was surrounded by several members, but he felt no fear. They were untrained, superstitious thugs at best. Nothing he couldn't handle.

"What the hell? A Gargoyle?"

"No, it's some guy in a cape! Get him!"

The group rushed the lone hero, hammers and fists swinging through the air. Batman quickly darted to the left to avoid one hammer, grabbing that man by the wrist and elbow, and hurling him over his head, into three other goons, knocking them all down and out. Another Quarryman tried to bring his fist to the back of Batman's head, connecting, Batman grunting out. This told the remaining Quarrymen he was not invincible, and they renewed their efforts, but Batman easily dodged an attack from the front, striking the man in the gut with his knee, then throwing him to the ground. One of the thugs attempted to flee, only for Batman to hurl a batarang at him, colliding with his head and knocking him out. Soon there was only one thug left, and that is how Batman wanted it. The thug backed away slowly, scared, as he should be. Batman then lunged for him, startling the goon, as he grabbed him by the shirt.

"Where is Scarecrow?" Batman demanded in his dark, serious voice.

"A-ahh! That scarecrow's out on a hunt with some of the other Quarrymen! I don't know where they went! Honest!"

"Not good enough!" Batman demanded.

"Okay! Okay! Clarkeson and Main! On the roofs!"

"Better."

Batman then punched the thug in the face, knocking him out, and likely breaking his nose. He then dropped the thug, and reached for his grapple gun to leave by the way he came in. As he did, he thought about Gotham City, worrying about how Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl were handling affairs in Gotham without him. Even as Batman fired his grapple out through the skylight, towards where he remembered the edge of the roof was, he mused over the wisdom of his decision to come to New York to capture Scarecrow alone. He had reasoned then, that he was best suited for it due to having built up a tolerance to Scarecrow's older fear gas formulas, and the fact that Richard Grayson, Tim Drake, and Barbara Gordon each had something they feared strongly that they hadn't conquered. Batman pulled on the line of the grapple to test and confirm that it had latched onto the edge of the roof before using the device to pull himself out of the hall, quickly making his way towards Clarkeson and Main.

[Story Divide]

Gotham City, Batcave, Night

Richard Grayson sighed in frustration, seated in the chair in front of the infamous Batcomputer. Garbed as Nightwing, he listened to Tim and Barbara bicker a bit, mostly due to Tim's young, girl-hating age. Grayson thought to himself about the task ahead of them, and wondered why exactly Bruce had chosen to go to New York alone. True, he had a cover in going to see Dominique Destine on a business deal, but didn't Bruce trust him to be able to handle Scarecrow? After all, Bludhaven was closer to New York than Gotham. He could've easily tracked down Crane and brought him in. Instead, Nightwing was currently leading this threesome in capturing the remaining lunatics in Gotham.

"Who does Bruce think he is, anyway?" Grayson muttered.

"What do you mean?" Drake asked him.

"He went to New York, alone, to capture Scarecrow. Does he think he doesn't have fears or something?" Grayson asked bitterly.

"So what you're asking is, why didn't he ask you to do it?" Barbara chimed in.

"…yeah, I guess that's what I mean…" Grayson sighed.

"Cheer up, he trusted us to handle Gotham while he was away, didn't he?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

Grayson didn't have much time to think about it, as the computer displayed the Batsignal emblem on it. That meant that the Batsignal on Gotham Precinct was on.

"Time to go to work." Drake stated, putting on his domino mask.

"Right. Robin, you're sitting in Batgirl's lap in the Batmobile."

"Awww maaan, REALLY?" Drake asked in despair.

"It's a two seater." Grayson replied.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Clarkeson and Main Rooftops, Night

Demona scowled as she watched the police scowering the roofs for evidence. She had used her police scanner in her Nightstone headquarters to learn that the Quarrymen had been found here with heavy weaponry. Demona had come to try to kill some of the Quarrymen with her laser rifle, only to find the police had arrived first to arrest them. The human who had turned Goliath and the clan against her, Elisa Maza, was amongst them. How easy it would be to kill her now with a shot from the shadows of the neighboring roof. Easy, but not tonight, she had other plans for the detective, to let Goliath KNOW who had killed her, as punishment for betraying her feelings. After all those long years waiting for Goliath in his stone sleep, all the effort to break the curse, and he betrayed her. She loathed Goliath now, rather than love him. Her thoughts were clouded by her anger, but came into focus when she saw that man with the black cape and cowl leap from another rooftop down towards the one the police were still examining.

"Hold it!"

"Freeze!"

Batman ignored the warnings from the police, standing up, cloak around him, as he seemed to glide towards them. Demona was puzzled by the strange man, who seemed to disguise himself as a gargoyle, and showed no fear of humans and their firearms.

"Who are you?" Elisa Maza asked of the Caped Crusader.

"I'm Batman." He answered, in his dark voice.

As he spoke, Demona began to wonder where she had heard that voice before…

"The urban legend of Gotham City? In New York?" Elisa asked.

"I'm after Jonathan Crane. Also known as Scarecrow."

"So that weirdo dressed as a scarecrow _was _one of yours." Elisa replied.

"You've seen him?"

"Not personally, but he's been seen working with the Quarrymen."

"I know. I also happen to know where they've been getting their weapons." Batman stated.

This got the interest of the police officers.

"We've been trying to stop them from obtaining these things for months. They recklessly endanger the public with them. Care to share?"

"Nightstone Unlimited. Their leader, John Castaway, has been using a false identity to buy weapons in bulk from Nightstone Unlimited."

This made Demona growl in anger. Her weapons had been used to attack the gargoyles? She wouldn't stand for this. She had to find Castaway and kill him now. But how did this man find that out before she did with all her databases?

"Then we need to question Dominique Destine about her involvement with the Quarrymen." An officer remarked.

"I don't think she's in the loop. All the sales went directly through the head of military projects, James Heinrich."

"How did you find all of this out?" Elisa asked, "And what proof do you have?"

"I have my ways. As for proof, all you need to do is have Destine check her records for sales to a James Crestmere. Supposedly a Colonel for West Point."

This gave Demona enough information to stop the Quarrymen from obtaining more weapons from her behind her back. She had a name now, and a traitor to deal with. She quickly turned and ran off, moving to climb higher to glide away. This was not entirely unnoticed…

"I'm done here." Batman stated.

"Hold it! You're still a vigilante, and you're under arrest!" Elisa Maza stated, aiming her gun at Batman.

Batman responded by throwing down a gas pellet, quickly engulfing him in a thick smoke. Officers fired into the smoke, but hit nothing, and when it cleared, Batman was gone.

"Damn it!" An officer shouted.

Meanwhile, Demona had gotten to the roof of the building, and was making her way to the edge to leap off, when Batman stepped in front of her from the side, staring her down. He had a batarang ready, and she had her laser rifle ready just as quickly. They faced off, ready to fight each other, each taking the other in. It was a matter of seconds before one of them made the first move…


	4. Nightfall

Night Terrors

Chapter 3: Nightfall

New York City, Rooftops, Night

The two would-be combatants faced each other, silent on the roof. Neither was backing down, both ready at a moment's notice. Batman made the first effort to assuage the situation.

"It's illegal to bare military arms in this city." He stated, trying to talk out the situation.

"Isn't it also illegal for humans to play hero without being a policeman?" Demona dryly replied, not in the mood for talk.

"Touché." Batman noted.

The two circled each other slowly, unsure of what to make of the other. Both also knew the other's voice from somewhere, but where…?

"You're one of the gargoyles the Quarrymen mentioned, aren't you?"

"Yes…Call me Demona. It will be the last name you ever hear, _human_."

The Batman stood his ground, facing the gargoyle Demona. He knew that kind of laser rifle was fast to fire, too fast. He had to make the first move. He threw the batarang at her weapon, and she responded by firing at the batarang, giving him the opportunity to get in close, lunging for her. He anticipated her next move, but not the speed or strength behind it as she swung the laser rifle back around at him, hitting him in the side and knocking him down. He grunted out with the hit, quickly moving to get up. Demona fired the laser rifle at him, barely missing due to his evasiveness, even as he rolled back and threw a batarang at her hand, striking it and causing her talons to reflexively let go of the rifle in pain as she yowled out in pain. Down below on the other roofs, the police heard this yowl.

"What was THAT?" one officer asked.

Elisa knew too well what it was. It was a female gargoyle shrieking out. However, she tried to convince the other officers otherwise.

"Probably just a cat. We're done here, right?"

The other officers agreed, hauling the Quarrymen to the cars to be taken down to the precinct, even as above, the battle continued. Demona lunged at Batman, who rolled back and used both feet to kick her up and over him, onto the roof with a thud. When she hit the ground, he got up quickly, and kicked the laser rifle to the edge of the roof to keep it out of the fight as Demona got up and lashed out at him. He yelled out as her claws raked the front of his chest, the armor taking most of the blow, deforming slightly, as he backed away from the gargoyle. She lunged forward to keep attacking, Batman trying to use his arms to deflect her strikes. This worked, but her strength also caused some damage to his arms in the process, making him wince. She pressed the attack, backing him towards the edge of the roof, where he ended up bending backwards on the parapet as she grabbed at his neck and head, holding him there.

"Why do you hide your face, human? Are you afraid of the police?" Demona inquired, while choking Batman.

Batman didn't answer her question, more concerned with getting her off of him. Demona began reaching to remove his cowl, and that was when he made his move. He drew his legs up and used both feet to kick her in the stomach, catching her off guard and loosening her grip enough for him to wretch her hands off of him as he then followed up by using an uppercut against her jaw to force her back. She growled in anger at this, using her tail to whip at Batman's legs, bringing him down, and then pouncing on top of him to try to rake his face with her claws, as he drew a gas pellet from his utility belt. She noticed too late to stop him, and he shoved the pellet in her mouth and held her jaw shut as it went off. Demona got up off of Batman so she could cough up the pellet and catch her breath, giving Batman the chance to get up and move back away from Demona. By the time Demona had caught her breath and got her laser rifle to keep the fight at a distance to avoid more tricks, Batman was gone, as if he weren't ever there. Demona looked around cautiously, making certain he was gone.

"Now how did he do that…? No matter, he's gone now…whoever he was." She muttered to herself.

"I'm Batman."

Demona quickly spun around to look, just in time to catch a strong right kick to the side of her face, knocking her down and making her groan in pain, dropping the laser rifle.

'Damn, how did he sneak up on me like that?' Demona thought to herself.

She lashed her tail out again at him, but missed as he evaded it this time, while she got to her feet, picking up the laser rifle.

"And here I thought you'd fled." Demona taunted as she opened fire.

"Your disdain for humans is obvious. I can't let you go to hurt innocent people." Stated Batman.

"Humans are _far _from innocent."

Demona fired at Batman, who managed to dodge the shot by anticipating it, before he ran closer to strike out, kicking the laser rifle out of the gargoyle's hands and over the edge of the roof, sending it falling to the ground. Demona growled in anger, eyes flashing red, before she lunged at her human opponent again. Batman ducked her claw swipe, grabbing her arm and putting a hand to her chest to use leverage to swing her over his head and onto the ground hard, where she hit her wings and back. She groaned out in pain, sitting up, the wind knocked out of her.

'Owww…he's good…' she thought to herself.

Demona had to admit, with all of her thousand+ years of being alive, she hadn't trained to the skill level of fighting as this man apparently had, and she was both resenting it, and strangely allured by the fact she was being dominated in the fight. It reminded her much of what she liked about Goliath.

'Now's not the time for those thoughts, I need to stop him.'

Demona got to her feet, Batman in fighting stance already, before Demona pounced at Batman, knocking him to the ground with her on top of him, snarling at him as she tried to claw his chest again, clawing through it and drawing blood this time. Batman grunted, before headbutting Demona, breaking her nose and making her let up long enough for Batman to get one half of his near-unbreakable handcuffs onto one of her wrists. A normal human would need a diamond edged cutting tool to break the cuffs, and as he tried to get her other wrist in place to secure her, she roared out, kneeing him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Demona then grabbed and pulled at the handcuffs, before getting angry and striking at them, first denting them, then breaking them open. Batman knew he'd need something stronger next time, if there _was _a next time. Batman used her distraction to get out from under Demona by arming himself with his grapple gun, then firing it into the parapet of the roof, before having it reel him in. This dragged him against the roof, pulling him out from under Demona as she toppled off of him from the force. Batman then disconnected the grapple from the roof wall, putting the grapple gun away as he stood to face Demona, only to be tackled, both of them nearly knocked off the edge. Batman tried to kick Demona in the stomach again, but she stood her ground, her talons on his neck and head.

"You won't catch me off guard again." She told him.

She then began to pull at his cowl, wanting to see the face of the man who had the audacity to fight her.

"Why don't you show your face?" She taunted, slipping the cowl off, and coming to a surprise, "Bruce Wayne?"

She had called his name in surprise, genuinely shocked to see that…that the billionaire playboy, the aloof and busy Bruce Wayne, was the Batman she had been fighting. Her call in surprise also gave Batman the clues he needed to deduce Demona's double identity.

"Dominique." Bruce noted, before kicking Demona off, using her surprise to catch her off guard again.

Demona backed off, and Bruce stood up, pulling the cowl back over his head. He stared Demona down, scowling, as she stood up straight.

"So that's why you hide your face, human…"

"This also explains why Dominique Destine is never seen at night." Batman retorted.

"Then it appears neither of us is at an advantage in defeating the other."

"Yes…"

"We have a problem then. If either of us let the other live, they could reveal our secret…but if we kill them…"

"I'm not a murderer." Batman stated, "And we'd each lose something we couldn't stand to lose if we did. In my case, I'd become like the criminals I've sworn to stop. In your case, you'd lose your business deal with Bruce Wayne."

"Yes…I hadn't thought of that…" Demona noted, "But surely you'd end the deal now, regardless."

"Not necessarily…"

Before any more could be said, Elisa Maza burst onto the roof from the stairs, aiming her gun at the two.

"Freeze Demona!"

"We'll finish this another time…Batman." Said Demona, before running for the edge of the roof and leaping off, howling like a banshee as she glided off.

"Damn it!" Elisa exclaimed, heading to the edge of the roof to watch her leave.

Batman took this opportunity to leave, throwing down a gas pellet, seeming to vanish in the smoke. Elisa turned to see the smoke, then hit the parapet with her fist, infuriated she lost them both. Was Batman working with Demona? Elisa needed time to think and to talk with the Manhattan Clan.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Apartment, Night

Crane had been busy since he fled the Quarrymen, having been looting an illegal gambling operation. True, he had said that petty theft was beneath him, but chemicals were so expensive these days, and he needed a lot of them for his plans in New York, especially since he was running low on the fear chemicals he had brought to New York with him. He had to resort to psychology to terrify the bouncer tonight, and that simply wouldn't do, after all, what if psychology didn't work on the gargoyles? Or if the thug had been too stupid to trick? Even as he poured out the money onto the table of his apartment in New York, a run down one, he took the complimentary phone book and began to thumb through for chemical suppliers.

"Let's see…here we go…"

He then picked up the phone and began to place orders for seemingly innocuous chemicals in bulk, under the company name he used to have, Crane Chemicals. It had been shut down by the Gotham Police in the past, but he wagered he could still use it as a front for his operations in New York. He gave instructions he was to have the chemicals delivered to a warehouse on the pier, and that he'd be waiting there to pick them up. Crane smiled to himself when they said they would do it, willing to take his payment for it there. Apparently businesses in New York cared more about a buck than in Gotham City.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Destine Manor, Night

Demona was fuming over the fact a human had kept up with her in battle so easily. True, she suspected nothing was normal with this human, but still…it was a human being, not a gargoyle. Yet why wasn't she mad enough at him to have killed him now that she knew who he was? She had the upper hand after all. She could circulate the rumor that Bruce Wayne was Batman, and who would believe that Dominique Destine was a gargoyle? Yet…she had no plans to do so. Partially because she didn't want to risk it, but it was something more as well, a trust that she hadn't had since her initial alliance with Macbeth all those years ago. Why did she have this trust though…?

"Destine."

Demona turned to face Batman, who had somehow had sneaked up on her, in her own home, without her noticing. He was _very _good…

"It's Demona. I am a Gargoyle first, human by day only due to a magic spell."

"I'm familiar with magic myself." Batman told her, "I've had encounters with it. We need to talk."

Demona shrugged, turning to face away from Batman.

"If it's about your business deal, Wayne…"

"No. It's about gargoyles. Are all of you this hateful of humans?" Batman inquired.

Demona sighed, frustrated with the question.

"I don't have to answer that, you know. And how did you find me?"

Batman strode over to her quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. Demona turned her head to look back at him. Was this human _touching _her? And why didn't she attack him immediately? Batman quietly removed a tiny, bat-shaped device from her shoulder, pocketing it in his utility belt.

"So you used a tracking device, I should have guessed." Demona mused.

"I don't see any other gargoyles here. You're alone, aren't you? They don't share your hatred do they? I can assume there is more than one of you in New York."

Demona sighed, knowing she was beaten there.

"Yes…I have been betrayed by my clan, as they choose to protect the humans who betrayed us many years ago."

"Or you betrayed them." Batman noted.

"How would you know these things?" Demona asked, shocked.

"I'm good at reading people."

"I'm not a human." Demona remarked.

"Humans and Gargoyles seem to think and act similarly. I don't see a difference between the two that's not physical or a result of physical difference."

"There are MANY differences!" Demona shouted, turning fully to face Batman.

"The only differences I see are the ones that the Quarrymen target your kind for. Not all humans think like them."

Demona growled in anger. She didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Why don't you go back to Gotham where you belong?" Demona demanded.

"I'm here because a dangerous criminal from Gotham has come to New York. He goes by Scarecrow."

"I haven't seen any scarecrows." Demona remarked sardonically.

"I want to ask you to keep an eye out for him. His real name is Jonathan Crane. He might try to buy chemicals from Nightstone Unlimited under his company, Crane Chemicals. If he does…I want to know about it."

"And why should I help you?" Demona demanded, "Indeed, why shouldn't I tell the world you're a famous man under that mask? No one would believe you if you said Dominique Destine was a gargoyle."

"You won't. You don't take risks with your plans." Batman said, calling her bluff.

Demona scowled, knowing he was right. A man with physical prowess, and a sharp mind to match it…was quite rare, she thought to herself.

"Now about the business deal…" Demona said, trying to change the subject.

"Is intact. The employment alone would help a lot of poor families. The medical and technological advances only send that number higher." Batman stated, moving to the window to leave.

"The profit doesn't hurt either, does it human?" Demona added.

Batman turned back to look to her, with a glare in his eyes at her insinuation.

"This isn't about profit."

"Then what is it about? Tell me, why do you endanger yourself and play the hero? Why wear the mask? What is it about?" Demona asked him, "I know it's not for fame and glory, you have that as Bruce Wayne. And I can assume it costs you money to supply your actions."

"My parents were gunned down by a punk with a gun when I was a child. I've sworn to protect others from the same fate." Batman told her, opening the window to leave.

"You can't win that war you know."

Batman paused to give thought to his answer to that statement.

"Maybe not. But I make a difference."

Batman then leapt out the window, into the calm, cold night. Demona sat down on her bed, a trivial thing to her when she doesn't sleep. She had never met someone who was so determined to fight a lost cause, except for Goliath and the Manhattan Clan.

'It's a shame he's a human,' Demona thought to herself, 'He would have made an excellent gargoyle.'


	5. Unto the Night

Night Terrors

Chapter 4: Unto the Night

New York City, Nightstone Unlimited, Day

Dominique was less than pleased with the current situation. She had to cater to the questions of the police regarding the Quarrymen, and the allegations she might be helping them were making her quite angry. It was all she could do not to strangle them with her bare hands.

"No, I had no idea that I was providing weapons to them, directly or indirectly." She stated truthfully.

Not until last night anyway, when she heard Bruce's…BATMAN'S statement to the police. She had to keep in mind that they while they were physically the same person, they were two distinct personas, one a façade, the other the true man. She could blame the mental slip on the fact she was trying desperately not to throttle Elisa Maza, while Elisa was trying not to do the same, having before seen Demona in human form and recognizing her.

"Do you know who was in charge of weapon sales then?" Elisa asked, expecting a certain answer.

"James Heinrich." Dominique stated.

"Okay, so that checks out with our sources." Elisa noted.

"May I inquire what those sources are?" Dominique questioned.

"An anonymous tip, but so far everything checks out." An officer noted.

'More like a vigilante tip.' Dominique thought to herself.

"If it is true, I'm going to fire Heinrich immediately." She told the police, "The last thing I want is my weapons in the hands of psychopaths."

'All except for yourself.' Elisa thought.

"You have to understand that I give my managers some degree of autonomy in their tasks." Dominique stated, "Most major companies do so. Take WayneTech for example. Bruce Wayne allows Lucius Fox most of the control. I figured that out from his visit to Nightstone Unlimited."

"I wasn't aware Bruce Wayne was in New York." One officer noted.

"Oh he is. In fact, I believe he's currently meeting with David Xanatos…"

[Story Divide]

New York City, Eyrie Building, Day

Indeed, Dominique was correct, as Bruce Wayne was currently in a face to face meeting with Xanatos in the Eyrie Building, discussing further plans for urban development in New York, and business trade with Gotham City.

"Now, let me be honest with you Mr. Wayne. You're offering funding for urban renewal, through my company…"

"That's right."

"When you've also offered funding to Nightstone Unlimited, a competing corporation, for the same thing." Xanatos noted, less than amused.

"I wasn't aware the two companies were competing." Bruce noted truthfully, "I just want to help people any way I can."

"By allocating funds to local companies for the task?" Xanatos inquired, "I'm sorry Wayne, but that's just poor business practice, giving away money like that."

"This isn't about profit, Xanatos. That's just what I told Destine. I genuinely wish to help people through my company."

"Yet I hear you have quite the time with the ladies."

Bruce blushed a bit at the insinuation. True, he did foster that belief, but…

"Well, I…um…"

"No one's perfect, eh Wayne? I heard your father was a doctor despite his wealth though."

"That's true."

"Surely you must do _something _positive with your time, beyond charities."

Little did Xanatos know how accurate he was.

"Well, I do have a few hobbies." Wayne joked.

"I'll level with you. I find it highly suspect that you're funding both Nightstone Unlimited and Xanatos Enterprises for the same goal. Not that I can prove anything. Maybe you're trying to increase the competitive edge in New York?"

"If it's competition for who can improve the city, then everyone wins, don't they?"

Xanatos smirked at the reply, both at Wayne's apparent naivety, and his shrewdness.

"You have a good point Mr. Wayne. All right, I accept your business proposal. I'll send for Owen to begin the arrangements."

"And I'll have Lucius work on it from my end."

Bruce Wayne then got up to leave.

"Good day, Mr. Wayne."

"Good day, Xanatos."

[Story Divide]

New York City, Nightstone Unlimited, Day

"If you have any other questions, I'm sure I could answer them." Dominique stated.

"I'm sure we have all that we need, thank you _Dominique_." Elisa said dryly.

"You're quite welcome, _detective_."

The police then began to leave, Dominique giving a quiet glare to Elisa as she left. On the way out, the police began to talk.

"What was THAT about?" one officer asked.

"What do you mean?" Elisa asked.

"You totally blew her off."

"I guess I'm just in a mood from being brought along during a day shift right after the night shift." Elisa excused herself.

"Yeah, but you were one of the ones who remembered what…_he _said."

"…Why are you avoiding saying Batman?" Elisa asked.

"Man, I heard he's a vampire."

"A vampire…right…"

"Either way, he's scary to me." The officer noted.

Meanwhile, upstairs with Dominique, she was already making the arrangements to fire James Heinrich, even as she planned much worse for him that night. She was also checking through her files for James Crestmere or Crane Chemicals. She found both on the record, finding that the Crestmere file was indeed, opened by Heinrich. No telling if that information was accurate then. She decided to check on the Crane Chemicals lead, finding that there was a deal for a delivery of chemicals to the docks, in a warehouse. She thought about notifying Bruce Wayne, but then she reasoned, that she could handle a lone human herself, as Demona. She was going on a hunt tonight.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Eyrie Building, Nightfall

Elisa yawned greatly as she waited for the sun to set. Xanatos looked over at her and noticed, commenting on it.

"Tired, detective?"

"Ugh…the force put me on double duty today. All because some Gotham Vigilante came into the city last night and single-handedly unraveled where the Quarrymen were getting their weapons, on my shift."

"We've been having a lot of visitors from Gotham City, I hear."

"Batman, Scarecrow…"

"And Bruce Wayne makes three. I wonder…" Xanatos trailed off.

Shortly, the roar of the gargoyles distracted them, and shortly the Manhattan Clan was climbing down the parapets, approaching them.

"Ah, awake and ready for a new night I see." Xanatos noted, "Can't say the same for some of us."

"Oh? Why's that?" Lexington asked.

"I've been called on a day shift after my night one. I'll get back on track when I get to sleep in the morning." Elisa stated, and then yawned.

"Ye might want t' stay here with me then, lass. It might do ye good." Hudson told her.

"No, I couldn't…" Elisa started.

"Do you have patrol tonight?" Angela asked Elisa.

"No, I have the night off."

"Then I would recommend ye stay." Hudson stated.

"…Oh all right." Elisa caved in, "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

"Then it's settled. Hudson will stay here with Elisa, the rest of us will go out on patrol." Goliath stated firmly.

"How's Alex?" Lexington asked Xanatos.

"Alex is fine. I believe he's receiving a lesson from Puck tonight."

"Oh man, I hope it's not more soul switching…" added Brooklyn, "That was just confusing."

A loud boom from within the building shortly gave them another reason to be afraid of the lessons. Shortly, Puck flew out from inside the building, floating over.

"Sorry, common rookie mistake with a fireball. Nothing to worry about. Oh, and the arboretum will be quite soggy from the fire fighting systems." Puck mischievously stated.

"Darn it, Puck, I do wish you'd find a safer place to teach those kind of spells to Alex." Xanatos told him sternly.

"Come on, we better go before Puck blows up the building next." Brooklyn joked, rushing to the parapets and leaping off to glide into the night.

"Hey, I can be careful. If I choose to be." Puck replied.

"Is it too late to change my mind?" Elisa asked.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Rooftops, Night

Scarecrow was currently pondering something, while waiting on gargoyles. He was wondering why they patrol the city. He did learn that they seem to with the Quarrymen incident, but why? As he wondered this, he was currently feeding a large number of crows that he had trained in Gotham, and had sent here by henchmen in Gotham. He was planning to use them to attract the gargoyles' attention; after all, he had to get them to him first before his plans would work.

"Now, now, patience my pets. Soon it will be time to terrorize New York City proper. But first I want to experiment with the local wildlife." Scarecrow told his crows.

They cawed in response to this, perching on the roof, waiting for their next order from Scarecrow. They didn't have long to wait, as Scarecrow then gave them the order to flutter around the roof, circling it en masse. It would be hard to notice from the ground at night, but anything flying would run into them and be attracted to the roof, or so Scarecrow thought. It was worth a try, anyway.

"Now we just need the guest, or guests, of honor." He mentioned to himself.

Scarecrow waited for what felt like hours before he heard something swooping by the building. He sent his crows out to investigate, and they scattered, quickly clouding the area with a swarm of birds. Meanwhile, Brooklyn and Lexington were passing by, when the crows began to harass them.

"Geez, what's with the birds around here?" Brooklyn asked.

"I don't know, but there's too many of them to be normal." Lexington stated.

They then spotted Scarecrow on the rooftop, and decided to glide closer, if the birds would permit it.

"Isn't that the scarecrow that Goliath mentioned?" Lexington asked.

"Must be, it explains the crows I guess."

They both battered their way through the crows to land on the roof, the crows cawing as they did, facing the Scarecrow.

"Ah, so there really are gargoyles in New York City. Good, good…"

"Isn't it a little early for Halloween?" Brooklyn asked Scarecrow.

"Cheeky things, aren't you? Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter."

"You're with the Quarrymen, right? That means you have to go down." Brooklyn stated, then lunged for Scarecrow.

"Brooklyn, wait!" Lexington cried out.

It was too late. Scarecrow artfully dodged the lunge in a style reminiscent of the Crane martial arts style, but while dodging, he gassed Brooklyn in the face from his sleeve, Brooklyn stopping his lunge and coughing. Brooklyn tried to shake it off.

"Scared yet?" Scarecrow wryly asked.

"You're gonna be when I get my talons on you!" Brooklyn exclaimed, turning to face Scarecrow.

Brooklyn took a step forward, but it was shaky. He began to fight for his balance, as though he were on a ledge, trying to stay on it.

"Whoa! Hey! Where'd this hole come from? Ah! Falling!"

Brooklyn fell over, curling up in terror. Scarecrow laughed at this, as Lexington rushed over to Brooklyn to try to help him.

"Brooklyn, snap out of it!"

"Mwahaha! So he's afraid of falling eh? I was expecting something less mundane." Scarecrow taunted.

Lexington's eyes glowed white in rage as he looked at Scarecrow, before lunging after him, furious. Scarecrow stepped back and sprayed his fear toxin at Lexington, making him cough as well, before he also began to hallucinate.

"Tell me what you fear…" Scarecrow told Lexington.

Lexington tried to fight the effect, even grabbing Scarecrow by the throat.

"I'm not afraid of falling." Lexington stated.

"Then what do you fear?" Scarecrow started, before the gases took their toll on Lexington, making him have auditory and visual hallucinations, "Is there someone you care about? About to die perhaps?"

Lexington heard Scarecrow asking rather specific questions, and then began to have visions of Alex being killed in various ways. Hanging, drowning, fire, gunshot, hammer blow…all from the Quarrymen. Lexington let go of Scarecrow, then ran to the edge of the building.

"Hold on Alex, I'm coming!"

He then took off, leaving Brooklyn behind, as Scarecrow chortled to himself.

"So it seems he fears for someone's well being. A friend? A lover perhaps? Or maybe someone else. It's a shame he fled before I could learn more. But I still have one test subject." Scarecrow stated, as he looked to the still cowering Brooklyn.

Brooklyn was having a hallucination of being wingless, and falling from a great height. He was still falling, before making impact with the ground. He blacked out when this hallucination came to pass, leaving him in Scarecrow's sinister hands to deal with…

[Story Divide]

New York City, Eyrie Building, Night

Lexington had burned through most of the toxin's effects by the time he had returned to the Eyrie Building, but was still concerned about Alex. Furthermore, he had forgotten about Brooklyn for the time being, as he began to climb the side of the tower, before looking in on Alex's bedroom. He saw Alex lying quiet in his crib, with Owen Burnett standing over him. Lexington sighed in relief, realizing Alex was safe, only to realize Brooklyn was not. He resumed his climb quickly, hoping to get back-up from Hudson, if not the other gargoyles, before Scarecrow could do anything worse. When he got to the top of the castle, he looked around, not seeing the others. He ran inside to look for them.

"Goliath! Hudson! Somebody!"

Hudson and Elisa heard him, and came running.

"Aye, we're here lad. What's going on?" Hudson asked him.

"It's Brooklyn. The Scarecrow has him!"

"What? When?" Elisa asked in shock.

"Not long ago. He sprayed some weird stuff on us. Made me terrified that Alex was being killed." Lexington remarked.

"So, it's some kind of magic that he uses to make us live our fears." Hudson mused.

"Sounds more like chemicals." Elisa stated, "Let's hurry."

"Right, I've got ye, lass." Hudson remarked as they rushed to leave for Brooklyn's last known location.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Rooftops, Night

Scarecrow was currently having a fit. He couldn't lift the gargoyle by himself to carry off to experiment on, but he didn't want to involve anyone more than necessary and ruin his work. If it was a Quarryman he asked for help, they'd simply kill the gargoyle, and if it was anyone else, they might have plans to sell the gargoyle or worse, let it go. Scarecrow was currently stuck in a predicament as a result. He also had to worry when the other gargoyle would be back, and worse, if they'd bring friends. He decided to do his experiment here, taking out a syringe and a vial of chemical, drawing liquid from the vial into the syringe, before looming over Brooklyn…


	6. Nightmares

Night Terrors

Chapter 5: Nightmares

New York City, Rooftops, Night

Scarecrow loomed over Brooklyn, syringe in one hand, the other hand grabbing Brooklyn's arm to stab into it with the needle. Deftly, he moved to plunge the hypodermic syringe into the gargoyle's arm, when he was tackled by an angry Lexington gliding in, knocking him down and the syringe away from him. Hudson set Elisa Maza on the roof as he landed himself, while Lexington roared at Scarecrow, furious about the hallucinations he experienced.

"Note to self, the gas seems to wear off faster on gargoyles." Scarecrow stated to himself calmly.

"How _dare _you do that to me?" Lexington demanded, "To Brooklyn!"

Scarecrow just grinned behind his mask.

"It's nothing personal."

"Well I'm taking it personally!" Lexington shouted.

Hudson and Elisa ran over to try to help contain Scarecrow, but the wiry figure sprayed out his fear gas again, in a large amount, dusting all three of them.

"Not again *Cough*" Lexington choked out.

"Try not to breathe!" Elisa shouted, covering her mouth with her shirt and jacket.

Hudson could only cough as the vile gas spread, Lexington trying to force Scarecrow's mask off.

"Let's see how you like your own medicine!" Lexington shouted angrily.

Scarecrow's mask, however, wouldn't easily come off due to the noose around the bottom of the mask, and before it could be removed, Lexington began to see bugs and roaches squirm out of the "mouth" of the mask. The hideous bugs all had Alex Xanatos' face on them as well, with horrible bug parts coming out of their mouths.

"oooo-kay, that didn't happen last time…" Lexington noted.

"You got a stronger dose this time." Scarecrow stated in return.

"Augh! I can't see! I'm blind!" Hudson shouted out, living out the recent fear of losing his sight.

Elisa was coughing on the gas, her clothing not making for decent enough filters, as she began to hallucinate. She saw Scarecrow get up, Lexington thrown to the side, and aimed her gun at him. She opened fire, just as she saw Goliath lunging at Scarecrow. She gasped in surprise at Goliath was hit by the bullets instead, roaring out as he collapsed. Scarecrow laughed at her, mocking her mistake.

"Nice shot!"

"Goliath!" Elisa cried out, rushing over to try to help Goliath, who lied there dead, "No! No this can't be!"

Elisa knelt down beside Goliath, and began crying, as things began to grow dark for her…

[Story Divide]

New York City, Rooftops, Night

Brooklyn was currently alert now, trying to wake up Lexington, who had blacked out.

"Come on, Lexington. Wake up!" He said, trying to shake him awake.

Lexington groaned, still stunned, as he began to come to. The last thing he could remember was being bitten and attacked by the warped bugs…

"Ugh…what happened?" he asked, holding his head.

"That Scarecrow got us is what happened. He's gone now." Brooklyn told him.

"Ugh, darn it. Wait, what about Hudson and Elisa?"

"I woke you first, they're still here."

Meanwhile, Elisa was being shaken awake as well, groaning out, waking up to see the face of an angel?

"Goliath! You're alive!"

"Am I not supposed to be?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, I mean no! I mean… I don't know what I mean…" Elisa sighed in frustration.

"Are you well?"

"I will be. Soon as that gas wears off."

Meanwhile, Broadway was trying to wake Hudson, and Angela was returning from investigating the area.

"No sign of the Scarecrow." She stated to Goliath.

"Hnnn…then it seems we've lost him." Goliath remarked.

"Damn it!" Brooklyn shouted, "I want another crack at that jerk."

"So do I." Lexington added.

"It's strange he simply left us be when he had us in his power." Hudson remarked.

"Agreed. What was he after?" Elisa mused.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Warehouses, Night

Scarecrow was fuming mad, removing his mask and laying it on a table. How many blasted gargoyles were there exactly? However many there were, there were too many for his tastes in one place at the time, and he was concerned more were going to arrive. He had to flee and leave his experimenting behind to escape eventually being overwhelmed, and now he was at a warehouse he was renting out with some of the money he had extorted in the early days of his career for purposes such as this. He had rented the warehouse under Crane Chemicals to make it appear legitimate on the records. But that was hardly what he was concerned with right now.

"Blasted beasties! There are more of them than I thought! I'll need to change my plans if I'm to continue with my experiments!" Crane shouted in anger.

He also needed to consider a better location for experimenting than a rooftop if he were to experiment, it seemed. It was just a tad too public with all those gargoyles showing up, and he was also concerned about the human with them. A human being allied with them changed quite a lot of things, and made him concerned that they might have some human allies willing to stop him or work with the law. That wasn't what he needed being involved with his work. He had to concoct some sort of plan to separate the gargoyles from each other and their human allies.

"Or I need to be better prepared for my experiments." Crane mused to himself, "And perhaps a more terrifying visage."

Crane then began work on his plans and alterations for his costume.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Nightstone Unlimited, Night

Demona had just returned from a little excursion into the city, armed with her laser rifle. She had just come back from slaying James Heinrich for his part in assisting the Quarrymen, and had destroyed his Quarrymen paraphernalia, but left enough to implicate the Quarrymen in his death. She should have guessed he was a Quarryman when she heard he was arranging for them to get weapons through Nightstone Unlimited. It didn't matter now though, he was dead, and with luck, the Quarrymen would have yet more problems with the law than ever. This also left her with little to do but plan and work right now, from her hidden control room in Nightstone Unlimited.

"Oh what to do…" She sighed in frustration.

Being a gargoyle by night, human by day, with no sleep in between left her with a lot of time on her hands, time she spent in various ways. Tonight, she was researching Crane Chemicals, and any connections it had in New York. It turns out it did, a warehouse on the dockside, rented out recently. She could report this to Bruce, but then she thought about it. Why should she report it to a human? Why even bother with the search? True, this Scarecrow had been working with the Quarrymen, but surely the police could handle that. Then again, if this Scarecrow did anything to Angela…she surely couldn't risk that. She decided to go and take care of this menace personally.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Streets, Night

The Quarrymen were out on patrol tonight, as many of them were every night, armed and ready. They were searching for gargoyles to slay, partially because smashing stone statues by day didn't guarantee they killed gargoyles, what with all the stone replicas and all. However, tonight, three of them would have other problems, even as a lone figure stalked behind them from the rooftops. There was the rush of air, then a brief shout, as two of them turned to notice their comrade was missing.

"Where'd he go?"

That was shortly answered as a Quarryman hood fell down between them, prompting them to look up and see their partner in crime hanging by his legs from a cable tied around a light pole, and the bright light of the pole blinding them to the Batman, perched on the pole. That is, until Batman struck, leaping down and taking out one of the two remaining Quarrymen with one punch. The remaining Quarryman began to panic, before turning to run, only to be snared by the legs by bolas, tripping and hitting the ground with a thud. Batman was quickly upon him, pulling him up by his uniform.

"Where's Scarecrow?" Batman demanded in a growling shout.

"I-I don't know!"

"Where is he?"

"I swear to God, I don't know!"

"If you believed in God, you wouldn't be here!" Batman snarled at him.

"Oh God! Oh God!"

Batman had his victim panicked all right. He shouldn't be able to think straight enough to lie now.

"WHERE IS HE!"

"H-He took off, left us in the middle of a gargoyle attack! Several of us were arrested. I don't know where he went! No one does!"

Batman was convinced he was telling the truth, but this wasn't what he wanted to hear. He dropped the thug to the ground, before firing his grapple gun to ascend back to the rooftops to think. Why would Crane ally himself with the local supremacist group, then abandon them? Was it fear of these gargoyles? What did Crane want here in New York? He had a lot to puzzle over as he decided to try calling in to Gotham City. As he expected, Nightwing answered.

"Batman?"

"Nightwing."

"How goes the search for Scarecrow?"

"Not good. I'm running into a few snags. He's gone to ground. I need someone to check the computers to see if anything has been bought or rented out to Crane Chemicals." Batman stated.

"All right, we'll get right on it."

"How is it going in Gotham?"

"We're handling pretty well considering. We've managed to round up a few of the Arkham inmates. Mostly nobodies though, compared to freaks like the Joker."

"None of them are worth overlooking."

"Right…"

"Let me know if you turn up anything on the search."

"Got it."

Batman then ended his call to Gotham, and resumed his patrol of New York City.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Warehouses, Night

Demona quietly swooped down and landed on the roof of one of the warehouses, armed with her laser rifle, looking around warily. She knew one of these warehouses was currently rented out to Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. the Scarecrow, but she didn't know which one from the air. She had to climb down and look at the numbers to figure that out, which is why she was heading down to ground level. She began to explore the dockyards, cautious of any humans who might be lingering about so she could focus on killing Crane. In short order, she found the appropriate warehouse, and tried the door.

"Locked…"

She then growled out, and using both hands, grabbed at the handle and ripped the door out of its frame, smirking as the way was now open. She went inside, laser rifle at the ready as she looked around. The lights were on inside, but no sign of Scarecrow yet. There were several crates present, and some cages, like those used for animals. Shortly, a brief laugh was heard echoing in the warehouse.

"Well, looks like a lone little gargoyle has come to my lair." Scarecrow taunted.

"This 'lone little gargoyle' is going to kill you, so show yourself."

"You must be alone then, because you don't act like the other gargoyles."

"You've seen the others? What did you do to them?" Demona demanded.

"Oh, nothing that I won't do to you, or worse."

Demona kept aiming around with the laser rifle, hearing something darting behind her, turning only to see two crates. She fired at one of them, only to have it scatter a white powder around, which made Demona cough. She walked away from the powder to try to get fresh air, as she started to see the warehouse widen and expand outward in all directions, growing larger in her perception.

"What…?"

"Tell me, what do you fear? What do you see?"

"That's none of your business, _human_."

"Please, call me, Scarecrow!"

Demona spun around to face the voice behind her, only to be stabbed by four syringes, one worn on each finger of his right hand, pushing yellow fluid into Demona's stomach from the stab, making Demona growl out in anger and pain.

"Why you-!"

"You're about to feel fear like you've never experienced!"

Demona backhanded Scarecrow away, taking her laser rifle and aiming at him, only for him to appear to vanish, unaware of the fact she had blacked out and was hallucinating by this point.

"Where are you? Show yourself!"

There was no answer, even as everything appeared to have a darker edge to it, jagged edges and black lines defining the shape of everything around her. She looked around again, finding no sign of Scarecrow or anyone else.

"Hmph…cowardly man." She mused to herself, then headed out, only to see those strange lines and edges on everything outside as well, and unnaturally long shadows cast by the light.

"Am I hallucinating? I must be…"

She tried to shake her head to try to shake off the effects, but it didn't work. She roared out in anger at this, then climbed up the warehouse to glide off into the night.

[Story Divide]

Nightmare

Demona scowled as she arrived at Nightstone Unlimited. All the lights were out, meaning no one was inside, even as she climbed into her hidden control room. She turned on the lights in here, only to see more of the unnatural shadows, this time with jagged toothy grins and haunting red eyes to them. She ignored this, and tried to access the computers, only to find them unresponsive. They wouldn't even turn on.

"Damn it!" She growled out, hitting the machine to no effect.

She then decided it was time to head to her home in the city, figuring she might as well try the computers there. She soon took off from Nightstone Unlimited, gliding her way there. On the way, she finally noticed the bizarre lack of traffic and activity in the city. New York was known as the "City That Never Sleeps" for a reason, but tonight, nothing. No cars, no people, nothing. This made Demona think, and she ultimately decided it was part of her hallucinations. She changed direction, heading to the Eyrie Building. True, they were her enemies now, but they had a common foe in this Scarecrow, and perhaps, they might put aside differences long enough to help her be purged of the toxins inside her. When she arrived however, she noticed the same problem. No lights, no presence, nothing. She explored the castle thoroughly, and the building. Not even a security guard in the ground floors. She finally realized that she was utterly, and truly, alone.


	7. Daymares

Night Terrors

Chapter 6: Daymares

New York City, Warehouses, Daybreak

Scarecrow was currently working on alterations to his costume, working into the morning light. He felt his current one was simply…not intimidating enough to the gargoyles, or to the locals of New York City. This bothered Crane greatly. He had built up his reputation of fear in Gotham for so long, that New York was new ground to him, and here, he was a newcomer. He already had made the alteration of using his fear toxins in their liquid state, which was indeed more potent, but he needed more. True, he had to admit the idea for the glove was rather Wes Craven, but it would do the job nicely. He decided to keep the noose however, but alter the hat into a monk-like hood, but what to do about the shirt…?

Crane was distracted from his thoughts as he heard Demona's groans of pain. He figured she was waking up, so he skipped over in warped delight to see if she would tell him her fears. What he found was a surprise as she was in mid-transition to human form. This was news to Crane, as he had been told by the Quarrymen that gargoyles turned to stone by day, and indeed, he did notice now that the sun was rising outside. Were the Quarrymen wrong? More importantly, did all gargoyles turn to human forms by day?

"Well, this is quite an interesting turn of events." Crane noted to himself mostly.

Demona, on the other hand, was back to consciousness and lucidity due to the pain of her transformation, as well as the unexpected benefit of her transformation burning through the fear toxins and bringing her out of her drug induced nightmare.

"Release me, human!" Demona demanded, angry, grabbing the bars of her cage.

"I'd take a good long look at yourself before getting presumptuous about the human race." Crane retorted.

"I may be human now, but I am a gargoyle in nature."

"We'll see, we'll see…" Crane mocked, reaching to put on the syringe-laden glove again.

"What is it you want, human?"

"What I want is to experiment. To understand, to comprehend _fear_! And right now, you provide a most excellent opportunity to study the psychology of fear in gargoyles!"

"You're insane. And a dead man when I get loose."

"The former is what those wretched peers of mine said at the university. They told me I was too extreme in my methods. I say they're too concerned with restraint to ever hope to understand the psyche." Crane told her, putting on the glove, flexing his fingers inside it, drumming the syringes against the palm of his hand slowly.

"You must want something…Money, technology…" Demona started, trying to bribe her way out of this, as she was too weak as a human to break free.

"What I want is for you to tell me what you experienced in that delightful little dream of darkness."

This angered Demona, who would rather not tell a _human _what she feared.

"Go to hell, human!"

"You first."

Crane then jabbed her in the arm with the syringes, again poisoning her with his fear toxins as she cried out in pain. This time, she remained conscious.

"Hmm, perhaps her exposure to fear powder prior to the fluids overwhelmed her last night…" Crane mused, as he then moved away from the cage, removing the glove. He listened to Demona's shrieks of agony, grinning in delight, as he went over to a cot and laid down to sleep.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Elisa Maza's apartment, Daylight

Detective Maza had just gotten home from her shift, and had plans to sleep all day to make up for her lost sleep. She removed her jacket and set it on a chair, setting her gun on a table along with her badge, and then turned to head to bed, only to face The Batman. She gasped out in surprise, reaching for the gun, only for Batman to quickly step closer and grab her hand, keeping her from the gun.

"I wouldn't do that."

"What are you doing in my apartment?" Elisa demanded of the Masked Manhunter, trying to reach for the gun with her other hand, only for both hands to be grappled by Batman.

"You know of the gargoyles." Batman stated.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Elisa lied.

"Let me put it this way. You knew the one by name."

Elisa realized she had been caught in her lie, and Batman wasn't going to relent. She relaxed her arms from her struggles, and Batman let go of her. She didn't reach for the gun now.

"She's evil. She wants to kill off humanity."

"We've met." Batman told Elisa, "Her disdain for humanity is apparent."

"What about her?" Elisa inquired.

"I'm here concerning the other gargoyles. I know there are more than her."

"And why do you think I'd know anything?"

Batman just gave Elisa a cold glare. Elisa squirmed a bit in place, intimidated.

"Okay…so why do you want to know?"

"I suspect Scarecrow knows about them as well."

"That'd make sense, he _was _seen with the Quarrymen."

"I also suspect Scarecrow has some vested interest in them. I want them to turn Scarecrow over to me if they catch him."

"Good luck with that. He's eluded us last night and stopped us dead in our tracks." Elisa noted, inadvertently admitting her partnership with the gargoyles.

"Us?"

"You figure it out."

"I see…"

"Why do you want him?" Elisa asked.

"I intend to return him to Arkham Asylum."

Elisa put a hand to her hip, gesturing with the other hand.

"Didn't he already escape from Gotham? What's going to keep him from coming back? What's going to keep him from revealing to the world about the gargoyles?"

"What keeps the Quarrymen from doing the same thing?" Batman countered.

Elisa went silent, before she took her hand off her hip, sighing.

"Look, I think that Scarecrow needs something more secure than an asylum to hold him."

"Agreed, I'll see what I can do about that. I'll speak to Dr. Arkham about improving security, and perhaps Bruce Wayne about donating to the asylum's funding for security."

"That's not quite what I meant…"

"I'm not going to cross the line between myself and the criminals I stop. Neither should you or the gargoyles." Batman stated to Elisa.

"So how do we find Scarecrow?"

"I have someone looking into any property being leased or owned by Crane Chemicals. A front for Scarecrow's work."

"Care to let us in on this? He did attack us last night."

"I'm playing this one close to the vest." Batman replied.

Elisa turned to walk to her kitchenette's sink, taking out a glass and filling it with water, trying to ease her body a bit. She was still tired, and now on edge.

"Fine, but I'll have my own sources look into Crane Chemicals." She stated, then turned around with glass in hand.

She found herself alone, Batman nowhere to be seen, and the skylight window of her apartment letting in a cool wind. Elisa sighed in frustration and fatigue.

"How does he do that?"

[Story Divide]

Nightmare

Demona was currently in a waking dream of sorts, currently trying to fight off the effects of the toxins on her. Her vision of the world was different this time around, and she was in Times Square now, during the daylight. The lines were distorted, of varying thicknesses, and some of the colors seemed to bleed out of the edges of objects. It was hard to determine what was happening by eye, but she knew what it was. She could still make out the fist with a hammer insignia on the blue uniformed humans, and she could recognize the stone forms of the Manhattan Clan. The Quarrymen were armed with large hammers, arms raised, the crowd cheering them on. Demona tried to cry out, but found her voice drowned out by the crowds. John Castaway was at the head of the group of Quarrymen, and was rallying the crowds.

"We have here the last of the demons! We strike now to free ourselves of their detestable existence!" Castaway cried out.

Demona tried to run up to the procession to stop it, but found the distance between herself and the Quarrymen growing rather than shrinking as she ran. She could only watch as the men raised their weapons, then brought them down on the stone gargoyles. Their blows sounded like thunder to Demona, even as she watched the clan shatter into pieces. Goliath was gone, and now so too was their beloved daughter, Angela. Demona was crushed with despair, hearing the crowds cheering wildly. Demona had thought she was over her attachment to the clan since the day Goliath betrayed her trust in favor of the humans, despite the fate of the Wyvern clan, but here she was, crushed by their demise. She could feel an uneasiness knotting in her stomach at the nightmare, even as she tried to reassure herself that it was, in fact, only a nightmare. Oh how Scarecrow would pay for this when Demona got loose. She tried to focus on her hatred of Scarecrow, and what she desired to do to him, in order to fight off the nightmare. She could feel the world around her evaporating into a hazy, ethereal mist, the sounds dying off. Good, she was winning, she was fighting it off, but then she heard a raspy laugh, and saw two giant eyes like glowing ember loom over her. She fell to her knees, recognizing her tormentor despite his altered appearance.

"No…!"

"What did you see? Tell me!" Scarecrow's booming voice demanded.

"No, I won't tell you, human!" Demona shouted, trying to stand again.

She could see his giant, syringe clawed hand reaching down at her, seeing his new look had the monk's hood with a noose at the neck, but where once was a farmer's shirt was now an old fashioned preacher's coat, long and black, open to show Scarecrow's body, shirtless and pale, scrawny as well.

"Tell me!"

"Never!"

"We'll see about that." Scarecrow mused, before his giant hand closed around Demona, rendering her world black.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Eyrie Building, Dusk

David Xanatos was currently counting the minutes left until the sun set, and the gargoyles were due to awaken. He had little else to do right now, as Owen was attending to much of the other activities that would currently take his time, and Fox was with Alex currently. Xanatos was currently heading up to the castle, finding that Elisa was already up there and waiting. That was fortunate, because Owen had relayed a message to Xanatos that Elisa wanted to speak with him.

"Something the matter, detective?" Xanatos asked.

"It's Batman. He knows about the gargoyles."

"Well, I can hardly say that surprises me, considering he's known as the World's Greatest Detective." Xanatos quipped.

"He's after that Scarecrow guy that attacked us last night. But I don't trust him."

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust Xanatos." A gruff voice responded.

The two turned to face Batman, who was striding over, cloak around himself, imposing as ever.

"How do you _do _that?" Elisa inquired.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed. You've gotten past security systems that the gods themselves have trouble with." Xanatos noted.

"I assume the gargoyles are the stone statues. I've looked throughout the castle to find no sign of them." Batman stated.

"_Very _perceptive." Xanatos remarked.

"How did you know to look here?" Elisa said, asking another question.

"I have my ways." Batman noted coldly.

"So what brings the infamous Batman here? Sight-seeing?" Xanatos joked.

"My source of information has gone missing."

"Now that sounds like something up your alley." Elisa sardonically remarked.

"I've investigated Dominique Destine's manor and office already. I've found-"

"Hold it, Destine's your informant?" Elisa asked, surprised.

"Now _that _is someone not to trust…" Xanatos replied.

"I trust her far enough to locate Scarecrow, and she has. Her office computer displayed the information regarding a warehouse leased by Crane Chemicals." Batman stated sternly.

"Wait, you said she went missing?" Elisa asked.

"She failed to appear at Nightstone Unlimited and failed to leave any notification of taking the day off. She also wasn't at her town house."

"Now that's suspicious…" Elisa noted.

"Do you think she's up to something?" Xanatos asked Elisa.

"Probably."

"You really don't trust her at all, do you?" Batman remarked.

"You wouldn't understand." Elisa told him, not sure he'd believe she was a gargoyle by night.

"That she's Demona? We've met."

"…So you do understand." Elisa replied, surprised he knew.

"We _are _dealing with the World's Greatest Detective." Xanatos noted to Elisa.

"Still, what did he do, stalk her?" Elisa dryly stated.

Their conversation came to an abrupt end when night fell, and the roar of the gargoyles was heard pealing out throughout the castle. Batman turned to face the sound, as did Elisa and Xanatos. Shortly, the Manhattan clan was approaching, and Batman narrowed his eyes as he studied their appearances. Meanwhile, the gargoyles were looking him over as well.

"Who is this?" Goliath asked.

"He's-" Elisa started.

"I'm Batman."

"Great, another guy in a costume…" Brooklyn muttered.

Lexington walked over to Batman, looking him over, then started reaching to poke him curiously.

"Don't." Batman told him.

Lexington, startled by the sudden and serious statement, refrained from his exploring any further.

"Bat-man?" Hudson asked, "Sounds like he and this Scarecrow belong together."

"I'm nothing like Scarecrow." Batman stated, glaring, "I'm here to bring him to justice."

"Then we have common goals for now." Goliath noted, "What would you do with him?"

"I've been asked that already. He's going back to the asylum he belongs in."

"Boy, if it's sanctuary you wish to give him, that's hardly what he deserves." Hudson remarked, missing the modern definition of asylum.

"That's not quite what I had in mind…" Batman replied.

"After what he did to us, I hope not." Brooklyn muttered.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we have a lead on where Scarecrow may be, and it would be best to move fast if we're all going. I'd prefer to go alone, but after telling Detective Maza about Crane Chemicals, I'm sure you'd find your own way there anyway." Batman told them.

"I was going to tell the precinct actually…I'd…like to avoid another run in with Scarecrow." Elisa stated.

"Are you afraid, Elisa?" Goliath asked.

"I…" She started, then sighed, "I suppose I am. That hallucination he caused me was pretty intense."

"So was mine, but I'm still going." Lexington noted.

"Where would Scarecrow be, exactly?" Hudson asked.

"He has a warehouse on the docks leased under his company. That's likely where he'll be. And possibly Demona."

This got the gargoyles surprised, and they looked toward Batman with interest.

"You know of Demona?" Goliath inquired.

"Yes. I'm assuming you're enemies, judging by your reactions and hers."

"Yes…bitter foes." Goliath replied.

"In either case, she might have gone after Scarecrow herself." Batman told them.

"And why would that be? Demona wouldn't lift a talon to help us, let alone a human." Hudson mused.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." responded Batman, "In any case we had better go before Scarecrow decides to move his base of operations."

"Agreed. And if Demona is there, so be it." Goliath stated loudly, prepared to go, "Brooklyn, go inform Broadway and Angela we're heading out after this…Scarecrow."

Brooklyn nodded in reply, heading off to find the couple, as Batman watched, bracing himself for the encounter to come.


	8. Wake Me Up

Night Terrors

Chapter 7: Wake Me Up

New York City, Warehouses, Nightfall

Crane had awakened now, and was currently active as night was falling. He was preparing for a battle to come, as he had suspected the other gargoyles might, perhaps, be able to sense their own, by smell or other means. He had rested in the daylight, expecting not to have any trouble, but his mind had raced in his sleep, and now he was suspicious, perhaps even paranoid, of an attack by the other gargoyles. It had not helped he had noticed a certain resemblance to bats, and that had triggered nightmares of the only thing he could feel fear from anymore, and that was the Batman. Crane prepared by loading a satchel full of fear dust, and hooking up a small tank to his side to keep his syringe needles full of his fear toxin. He lamented the loss of his scythe as a weapon, but that would have been too difficult to travel to Gotham by bus with and not have questions asked. His thoughts were interrupted by Demona yelling out in pain, and he was certain it was from pain, and not from fear. He believed that Demona was changing back to a gargoyle, and when he went to check, his suspicions were confirmed. Crane prepared to assault her with more fear chemicals once she finished; having earlier witnessed the transformation seems to burn through the chemicals' effects.

"I will kill you, _human_." Demona stated, furious.

"I sincerely doubt it." Crane retorted, then reached into his satchel with his non-syringe gloved hand, and threw dust at Demona's face.

Demona coughed at this, trying not to breathe in, but she could already see the effects of the hallucinations, the jagged, distorted lines and bleeding colors of the world around her. She grimaced at this, and tried to ignore it, reaching for the bars of the cage. She pulled her arms back, however, when she saw Scarecrow attempt to stab her with his syringe claws again. She didn't need to be in a complete nightmare world again, and she knew that. Scarecrow's laugh echoed in her ears, as were all sounds, distorted by auditory hallucinations. She could still see and hear enough to notice Crane looking to the door, and heard the doorknob being tried. She remembered breaking it herself, but Crane had apparently replaced it sometime in her nightmares.

"I'll deal with you later; it appears we have unwelcome guests."

Demona saw him heading towards the door, and tried to reach for the bars again, fumbling for them. As she got a grip on the bars, Crane was floored by something ramming the door and having it crash into him, knocking him on his back.

"The direct approach is effective too…" she heard someone familiar say, but in her haze, she could not recognize it as it was too recent a memory.

"There he is!" She heard a more familiar voice say, it was Brooklyn.

Determined not to suffer indignity by being found captured by a human, and hoping not to be captured and taken to the underground prison Talon ran again, she grabbed the bars firmly and tore them apart, getting out of the cage quickly. As for the other gargoyles, they had lunged at Scarecrow to try to pin him down, but unfortunately one of them landed on his back of powder, and scattered the contents of the powder into the air around them. Several coughing fits ensued, as Scarecrow wiggled loose of them while they were distracted, and got to his feet. The gargoyles got up to chase him, but they too began to see the jagged edges and bleeding colors, as well as other fears.

"Not again! I can't see!" Hudson shouted out, trying to rub his eyes.

The other gargoyles were suffering as well, Brooklyn flailing on the ground, envisioning he was falling again. Lexington started to see effigies of Alex Xanatos being murdered in horrific ways, trying to push his way past them to get to Crane, but was deeply disturbed by what he was seeing, and between the scrambled vision, and the sights of seeing Alex being beheaded on a guillotine, he stopped and fell to his hands and knees, vomiting from the graphic horrors.

"That's an interesting reaction." Scarecrow noted, before turning to flee.

He was stopped, however, by a bolas snare thrown expertly at his ankles, tripping him up and having him hit the ground with a thud. He didn't even need to look to realize who that was.

"B-Batman! Isn't there anywhere I can go and be left to my research?" Scarecrow exclaimed, trying to untie his feet.

"Give up, Crane. You're surrounded." Batman stated.

Scarecrow moved to look around him, but was quickly and easily lifted off the ground by Goliath, who appeared to resist the fear dust. Goliath growled at him, and shortly, Demona's growl could be heard as well.

"He's **mine** to deal with!" Demona demanded.

"I have to argue that." Scarecrow stated, before jabbing Goliath with his gauntlet of needles, pumping him full of fear toxin.

Goliath roared in rage at this, and Demona leapt at Crane as Goliath dropped him from the pain of the sudden injection. Scarecrow dodged to the side, barely avoiding Demona's wrath as she lunged past him. Her reflexes were slowed by the poison in her bloodstream, and he knew this. She turned her head to look at him, eyes glowing red in anger as Scarecrow ran past a staggered Goliath, heading deeper into the warehouse. Batman scowled at this, then fired his grapple gun to the ceiling, quickly swooping up and onto the stacks of crates, planning to track down Crane from there. Meanwhile the other gargoyles were recovering from the brief dusting they received. Hudson blinked his good eye, as Lexington got up off the ground along with Brooklyn. Broadway helped Angela to her feet, as Elisa came in to check on the group so far, having been keeping a watch for anyone coming.

"What happened?" She asked the gargoyles.

"That blasted magic dust of his got to us." Hudson stated.

"Ugh…food tried to eat me!" Broadway added.

"Heh, didn't think you'd be afraid of food." Brooklyn joked, poking Broadway in the stomach.

"I don't want to go through that again…" Angela remarked, and then looked around, "Goliath?"

"He's gone!" Lexington exclaimed.

"And so is Demona." Brooklyn added.

"What would Demona be doing here in the first place?" Elisa mused.

During this, Goliath and Demona had split up to try to track down Scarecrow themselves, though they were not exactly working together right now, simply both after the same target. Goliath was currently trying to fight off the effects of the stronger dose of fear toxin, seeing the world in a blur of colors, stumbling along between crates and feeling his way through. He saw one box he had his hand braced against come alive and try to devour his arm, but he growled at this, swinging his fist free and shattering the crate, seeing through the illusion.

"Scarecrow! Show yourself!" Goliath boomed.

"Awww, does the gargoyle not like his medicine?" Scarecrow taunted, his voice sounding harsh and loud to Goliath.

"Your trickery won't scare me so easily." Goliath retorted.

"Is that so?" Scarecrow inquired, auditory hallucinations beginning to plague Goliath now, beginning to hear Scarecrow talk when he was no longer talking, "What do you fear? Death of a loved one perhaps? Two?"

As the hallucinatory Scarecrow asked penetrating questions to Goliath, the view around him changed to Castle Wyvern, back as it was one thousand years ago.

"What sorcery is this?" Goliath asked.

Goliath could see the remains of a fire at the castle, recognizing this moment. He began to panic, as he had done then, even though he knew what was coming. He found himself climbing up to the parapets, finding the shattered stone of his rookery brothers, and feeling his dread when he believed Demona, once his "angel of the night", was among them. No, he knew this was more illusion, and he tried to fight it, unaware that Scarecrow was closing in behind him with his bag of dust refilled.

"WHAT DO YOU SEE!" Scarecrow demanded of Goliath, "TELL ME!"

"I will not give you the pleasure, Scarecrow."

"Then it's time to terminate the experiment." Scarecrow said, implying something sinister.

Goliath roared out, trying to hit his assailant despite not being able to see him, as Scarecrow moved closer with his syringe glove ready, and a handful of the feat powder, intending to give Goliath a massive overdose to scare him to death. However, he was tackled out of this attempt by Demona, raging mad, and spilling his handful of powder into the air around himself and Demona. Demona roared at the second dose of fear powder, as Scarecrow also plunged his syringes into Demona's arm, fighting back, injecting her before trying to get away. Demona growled in rage, trying to hold onto Scarecrow, but her grip weakened as she began to black out once more…

Nightmare

Demona found herself on a farm, distantly familiar, yet so far back in her past. It was back in the Medieval era, a poor family's farm, and it was night. She wandered the nearly barren land, a forest off in the distance beyond a barn. A young boy was heading out to the barn with a lantern, but paid Demona no mind, as if she weren't there. Demona reached for him to grab his arm to ask why he didn't fear her, but found her talons passing through a mist, as though the boy were another illusion.

"Enough of this, _Scarecrow_, I have no time for your games." Demona stated.

"Ahhh, but this is no game, Demona." She heard Scarecrow's voice tell her, "Don't you recognize this place? No? Of course you don't. After all, it was only you sewing more seeds of hatred towards Gargoyles."

"What do you mean by that? How would you even know my past?" Demona inquired.

They were fair questions, if this were the real Scarecrow she was asking, but he is just another hallucination of Demona's. However, the increasing doses of fear toxins in her blood stream and brain have burrowed deep into her psyche, her past, and were dredging up information Demona had forgotten consciously. Demona followed the boy, having no other options for now. She found a scene she began to remember, of her physically older, but chronologically younger self stealing from the barn for food, and lashing out at the boy, scarring him with three distinct claw marks.

"Why is this important to you, Scarecrow?" Demona demanded.

"Why isn't it? It was you who damned gargoyles into being reviled by humans, not us."

"YOU LIE! The humans came and destroyed the Wyvern Clan!"

"But it was YOU who incited it. Don't you remember? You made the bargain with them to attack during the day."

"Destroying us wasn't in our agreement then!"

"So you DO remember. Good, good…" Scarecrow stated, then chuckled, "Tell me, anything familiar about the boy?"

"Nothing." Demona replied.

"Oh but there IS, Demona." Scarecrow taunted.

Demona was puzzled by this, before she saw a scene of something she had not personally seen, but had imagined from being told about it, the first Hunter to come after the gargoyles, the first to bear the mask with three red lines across it.

"And what does this have to do with the boy?"

Scarecrow materialized and laughed, taking his hand, and pulling away the hunter's hood, to show an older version of the boy, still with his scars.

"So the human carried his grudge against me."

"Do you not yet realize what I am telling you? Are you that unintelligent?"

Demona roared, and lunged for Scarecrow, only to have him blow away into a mist. She was getting quite infuriated with the human now. Suddenly, an army of Scarecrows appeared, all pointing at her.

"YOU are your own worst enemy, Demona! It is, and has always been, your actions that caused the initial divide between humans and gargoyles. There may have been petty squabbles before you, but you were the one who has sown the seeds of discord and hatred to become widespread."

"NO!" Demona shouted against their cries.

The Scarecrow horde then faded away, and Demona was back on the farm, but this time the Manhattan Clan were there, on crosses of wood, the kind a scarecrow would be hanging from, as the clan was doing now, bound to the wood.

"You were the one who betrayed US, Demona." Brooklyn told her.

"Yeah, you broke the peace we had with the humans we protected." Broadway added.

"You left us to die!" Lexington roared out.

"You betrayed my faith in you, Demona." Goliath told her sternly.

"And you chose your hatred of humans over your love for me or father!" Angela shouted.

Demona stepped back from this scene, shocked by it, and trying to fight it, even as the clan taunted and jeered her.

"Stop this Scarecrow! These are more of your illusions!" Demona growled out.

"My _dear _Demona, I do not make illusions and you know this. I bring your fears to LIFE! They are your own inner demons let loose from the bottle. You can try to deceive yourself as you have for all those years, rationalize your actions, but you are still DAMNED for them!" Scarecrow said to her.

Even as he said this, he materialized, scythe in hands, slowly marching towards her, sweeping the blade through the gargoyles on the wood crosses, cutting them apart, killing them before her very eyes. Demona stepped back, truly afraid of Scarecrow now, and upset by the loss of her clan.

"No! Stop this!" She demanded.

"I cannot stop what you've set into action. All I can do for you now, is to end your wretched existence. You may not die physically due to your link to Macbeth, but I can destroy your mind! I'll see you in Hell, Demona!"

Demona stepped further back from Scarecrow, tripping on the ground, falling onto her back as Scarecrow loomed over her, raising his scythe…

New York City, Warehouses, Night

Scarecrow had gotten himself loose of Demona's grip, and was now running down one of the aisles between the crates, looking back to see if he was being pursued, only to run into someone or something ahead of him, falling onto his rear end. He looked up to see it was Batman.

"Boo." Batman said to Crane.

"S-stay away from me, Batman!" Scarecrow stammered, scrambling to his feet.

When Scarecrow turned to run away from Batman, he was hit with the flat side of a sword, flooring him.

"And that's for making me live through blindness!" Hudson exclaimed.

Scarecrow groaned, before he was handcuffed by Batman, arms behind his back now. Elisa and the others caught up to them quickly.

"I see you've got Scarecrow." Elisa noted.

"Where is Demona?" Batman queried.

"Goliath's missing too!" Broadway noted.

"I am here. Still uncertain of my surroundings, but I am standing." Goliath noted, stumbling closer to them from behind some crates.

"It will pass with time." Batman stated, "But that leaves Demona unaccounted for."

"She probably fled." Elisa muttered.

"No. She was also poisoned by the Scarecrow. I don't know where because I can still hardly see straight." Goliath responded.

"Then we had better find her." Batman noted, heading off into the warehouse.

"What about Scarecrow?" Lexington asked, but too late.

Batman was already gone by the time Lexington asked, and Brooklyn smirked, whispering to Lexington.

"Not a bad idea considering what he's done to us." Lexington said.

"What are you two up to?" Hudson asked.

"We're going to give him a dose of his own medicine." Brooklyn told him.

"I don't think you should do that." Angela chimed in.

"Agreed. We're not heartless as he is." Goliath stated.

"Aww fine. But he does deserve it." Brooklyn remarked.

Meanwhile, Batman had come across Demona's body, curled up in the fetal position, shivering, muttering. Batman recognized this as signs of deep fear consuming her, and rushed over, taking out a breathing mask and put it to Demona's mouth, discharging a strong release of oxygen to her lungs to help her purge the dust from her system, while he began to try to assess her vital signs, noting similarities to humans in panic. He was not, however, so absorbed in his work that he did not notice the others approaching.

"She's dying." Batman noted to them.

"There's some kind of spell on her. She can't die, not like this." Elisa stated.

"Perhaps not physically." Batman added, "She's not responsive to stimuli. I've seen this before in Crane's victims. She may lose her mind. I'm going to give her antidote."

"After what she's done?" Brooklyn asked.

"Death is not justice." Batman replied, "Whether it's the body or the mind dying."

Batman took out a syringe gun from his utility belt, then loaded a vial from another utility belt compartment into it.

"Crane updates his poisons, so I have to use generic antidotes. They don't always work, but I'm not going to do nothing."

"As much as we may live to regret this, I have to agree with you." Goliath stated, now coming out of his hallucinations.

Goliath stepped closer, as Batman tried to restrain Demona to inject her, but found her too powerful, and her body flailing from her nightmares. Goliath then came over to hold her down, and between him and Batman, they injected the antidote into her arm.

"Now all we can do is wait."

"We'll take her underground. We have a prison there for her." Elisa stated.

"No." Batman stated, "Her role as Dominique Destine is too important to this city."

"What?" Elisa responded.

"She knows about the Quarrymen using her company to get weaponry. She's the only one we can trust to keep it from happening again." Batman told her and the others.

"We can't just let her go! She's tried to kill us before, several times!" Brooklyn growled at Batman.

"If you have any better ideas, I would like to hear them." Batman growled back in his dark tone.

Elisa started to say something, but then sighed and crossed her arms, before shrugging.

"You know what, fine. I was going to suggest Xanatos buy out her company, but he's had his own agendas in the past before." She said, frustrated.

"You can't be serious!" Brooklyn shouted.

"Brooklyn! I know you resent her using you before to get to me, but this…Bat-Man, is right. How many others in her employ harbor Quarrymen? Help them? Are them?" spoke Goliath.

"Not to mention there would be resistance to a hostile takeover." Batman remarked.

"So what do we do with her?" Lexington asked.

This was a good question, which they ruminated over, as Demona lay there...

Nightmare

Demona shrieked out as Scarecrow raised his scythe, and was about to bring it down on her. However, the swing was stopped by a gloved hand, and the Scarecrow hallucination turned back to look.

"Eh?"

He turned in time to be socked in the jaw hard, letting go of the scythe, which was discarded by a mirage of Batman. Demona stood up now, still shaken, surprised to see him here in her nightmare. Scarecrow got to his feet, chortling at this, intrigued to see him here.

"Well now, the Batman…what brings you into this cozy little nightmare?" He said, suddenly looming over them all, a giant.

"It's over, Scarecrow." Batman retorted.

"The fear is only beginning!"

Scarecrow then formed his syringe arm, reaching out over Demona, who was standing up now, and she yowled out, confused by what was happening now.

"What is going ON here?" She demanded of them.

"I said it's over. You've been injected with an antidote by Batman. You heard this and felt this in the physical world. Your hold over Demona ends here, Scarecrow."

"Not quite, Batman." The hallucination of Scarecrow responded, "She also heard him say it might not work. And I will see to it that it's too late!"

Scarecrow then formed a massive scythe, swinging it at Demona, who leapt back to avoid this.

"That's it Demona, fight it!" Batman cheered for her.

"It will do you no good!" Scarecrow taunted.

"We will see!" Demona shouted back, leaping up at Scarecrow.

Scarecrow glared at her with eyes glowing like spotlights, as she turned into human form in their gaze, falling to the ground.

"Fear of being human I see. Feel how weak and pathetic you are as one of the vermin!" Scarecrow shouted at her.

She got up slowly, shaking in fear again, as Batman leapt up at Scarecrow and began to attack him, distracting his gaze and returning her to gargoyle form.

"Fight it, Demona!" Batman called out.

Scarecrow grabbed at Batman, squeezing him in his much larger hand.

"No, _Dominique Destine _will suffer, just as any other human would!"

Demona didn't know what to do now, her hallucinations driving her out of her mind. She held her head in pain, falling to her knees, growling out.

"S-stop this! Stop!"

Scarecrow then threw Batman through the roof of the barn in this nightmare, causing him to cry out in pain, as Scarecrow loomed over Demona and grinned, bats and beetles coming out of the stitches for a mouth.

"WHAT DO YOU FEAR!" Scarecrow demanded.

Demona was about to give up, when she saw Goliath glide to her rescue, attacking Scarecrow's face, forcing him to back off.

"Demona will not be your plaything any longer!"

Scarecrow stumbled back, trying to attack Goliath now with his syringe hand, Goliath still small compared to the giant hallucination.

"Give into your fear! Feel its embrace! Succumb!" called out Scarecrow.

Batman then emerged from the barn, joining in on the attack, Demona still hesitant as she watched this, both her protectors being beaten back by the tormentor. Demona began to sink into despair, and with this, Batman and Goliath began to weaken.

"Yes! Submit! Your fear will consume you!"

Demona was about to, when she heard voices. They were coming from outside the nightmare, in the waking world.

"Is she waking up?" Xanatos asked.

"No…she isn't." Goliath replied.

"I've given her all of the antidote I have with me." Batman noted, "All we can do is to wait…"

She heard footsteps leaving, and Demona's heart sank more, the world going black around her as Scarecrow laughed, until one more voice was heard.

"Mother…"

It was Angela. Demona still cared about her, and apparently Angela cared about her fate as well. Demona began to stand up, growling at Scarecrow, the world beginning to clear up, Scarecrow's form becoming misty.

"You've lost, Scarecrow."

"Hardly. You've given up!"

"No, I won't give up now. You were right. It was my fault. But that doesn't mean I can't live with that. I know there are gargoyles…and humans…who care enough about me to give me another chance."

"You would only betray them again, Demona. We both know this. You can't stand humans, and you won't tolerate those who side with them." Scarecrow taunted.

"Perhaps, but I have nothing to fear from you now."

Scarecrow then groaned as he faded into nothingness, and Demona began to wake up.

New York City, Eyrie Building, Night

Angela was currently sitting in a chair, carefully, beside the bed that Demona was laying in, recovering. The others had stepped out now, waiting as well, though it sounded like most of the others were heading out, and Batman was leaving to deal with Scarecrow, who was currently being held at a precinct in New York. Angela was brought out of thought by Demona groaning and sitting up. Angela took an offensive stance, not having expected her mother to wake so soon.

"Demona!"

Demona growled a bit at this, before lunging at Angela. Angela moved to brace herself, but was caught off guard by Demona holding her arms against her. At first Angela thought this was an attack, but when Demona did nothing after this, just holding her. It was…a hug?

"W-what…?" Angela asked, blushing slightly in confusion.

"I've thought over a lot of things while under the effects of that toxin, Angela. You are my daughter, and will always be, in spite of our different opinions on humans." Demona told her, "I should have never used you to try to slay Goliath."

Angela was overcome with emotion at this point, genuinely surprised at Demona's behavior. She slowly hugged back, still a bit confused. Soon Demona let go of Angela, and backed away from her.

"Don't think this means I will join this Manhattan Clan. I still hate humans. But I will not use you in my plans now." Demona stated.

Demona then turned to head out the window to the room. It was a bit small, but she managed to fit through it, and glide away, leaving Angela confused.

Gotham City, Arkham Asylum, Night

Crane was currently restrained in a straight jacket, being led to his cell by two of Arkham's toughest interns, armed with batons. Crane knew better than to bring up the gargoyles, being sane enough to know that he would just be medicated with more drugs if he started ranting about living gargoyles. Batman was also with the two interns, following behind, glaring at Crane. Crane knew this, and was intimidated.

"Welcome home, Crane." One of the interns mocked him, pushing him into the cell, which was then closed and locked.

"Just wait, I'll be back to my experiments soon." Crane muttered.

"Yeah, we'll see." The intern told him, heading off.

Soon, it was just Crane and Batman, with Batman on the outside of the cell. Batman glared at Crane, who looked back, trembling a bit.

"I think I'll stick to Gotham from now on. It's a less complex test environment." Crane told him.

"I'll be watching you, Crane. And if you head back to New York, so will they." Batman growled at Crane.

"Oh, trust me, I'm done with New York." Crane stated simply, as Batman quickly left.

Crane grumbled at this, sitting down on his bed now, scowling. He heard laughing, implying the Joker was back in his cell as well. Crane lied down on the stiff cot, muttering to himself.

"Oh just you wait, Batman…you, and the gargoyles, will get what's coming to you when I'm free again."

End


End file.
